Seraphim Phenomenon
by CatMuto
Summary: Rewrite of Cruxis' Seraphim. "Do not let my appearances trick you!"
1. 1: The Journey Begins

**Cat-Alin: **Okay, sorry if you all were surprised that I suddenly cut off the old Cruxis' Seraphim Story.  
Which now gets a new Name, of course.  
Anyway, I'm not as depressed about it anymore, thanks to my Boyfriend.  
Thank you!  
And I'll try to NOT forget that I gave Lloyd a stupid scar. I seriously forgot that!

I made up a positive-negative list about my two Versions (Lloyd growing up in Cruxis vs Lloyd growing up  
in Iselia while belonging to Cruxis) and the first one was better.  
I'm also gonna use the japanese names, even for Raine, but if you all are TOO unfamiliar  
or uncomfortable with it, I will change it.

Nee-san - what you call your Big Sister

* * *

_Several Years Prior_

"Papa?" a young boy asked, snuggled up to his father's shoulder, getting carried.  
"What is it, Lloyd?"  
"Where's Mama?" he asked. He was exhausted, cold and the bandage around his head was soaked through  
with blood and rain.  
His father stayed quiet for a while, his steady steps a soothing rythm to the boy.  
"Mama's .. dead."  
The boy didn't know what that word meant, but right now he was too tired to ask.  
He will ask some other day. Some other time ..

The little boy was asleep, not knowing what was happening around him.  
His father still kept him in his arms, while walking down a barely lit passage. The walls seemed  
transparent, with blue electricity running through them, the floor out of black marble.  
Someone was awaiting him at the end of the hall. This man wore white mostly, with  
long blond hair. It made him a great contrast to the darkness around.

"You seem aggitated, Kratos." he said with a sneer. "I'm sure you want to kill me now, don't you?"  
Kratos just held his son in his arms, not really looking at his opposite.  
"But you don't seem to have the will for it."  
".. Yggdrasill-sama," Kratos finally said. "why-?"  
"I had to, Kratos. I can't let them run around freely like stray dogs. Especially not with Origin's Seal."  
Kratos became silent again.  
"And now, since you don't have anywhere else to go, you will come back to Cruxis." Yggdrasill smirked slightly,  
he liked the idea of being in power. "If you are worried about your son, don't be. He can stay."  
Kratos nodded and left.

Back in his old chambers, Kratos sunk down onto the big blue armchair.  
Lloyd stirred and pushed up onto his father's shoulder, looking around.  
"Where are we?" he asked.  
".. In our new home."  
"Why isn't Mama here?"  
".. She's dead, Lloyd." he sat Lloyd back onto his lap and looked him straight into the eyes. "Being dead  
means that you are gone. You can't see that person again."  
Lloyd inclined his head to the side.  
Kratos sighed slightly. Lloyd was too young to ask, or to understand.

A few years later, Lloyd was down in the sublevels of the city, Welgaia.  
He had a wooden sword in his left hand, on the back of it a blue jewel and  
a rather broken wooden figure in front of him.

"You've learned your basics very well and fast, Lloyd." Kratos complimented him.  
Lloyd, out of breath, looked up at him and laughed. "It's fun to do something new! Could you  
now show me how I make that energy wave come from the ground?"  
Kratos smirked slightly at the eagerness of his son.  
"Alright. Focus your mana at the tip of your blade." he told him, tightening the grip  
on his own sword. "The best moment to release the energy is, when you see the glint of your blade  
at the corner of your eye."  
He slowly pulled his arm with the sword back. "And you slam your arm on the ground then. _Majnken!_"  
Kratos' sword touched the ground with a slam and a sharp, jagged wave of blue energy shot forward.  
Lloyd nodded and imitated his father as well as he could.  
".... _Majinken!_" he shouted, slamming his arm and sword onto the ground. A similiar wave appeared,  
but it was much smaller and didn't go very far.  
"That was pretty good for the first try."

An angel entered the almost bare room and bowed respectfully.  
"Kratos-sama, Yggdrasill-sama is wanting a word with you."  
The summoned one nodded and turned back to his son while the angel left.  
"You keep on practicing, I'll be right back."

Watching his father leave, Lloyd remained still, until the door closed behind him.  
"Noishe, wasn't I good?" he asked the big dog a bit away.  
Noishe barked happily.  
"Not much longer, and I'll be as strong as my Papa."  
Noishe barked and lay down on the floor, closer to his master's son and watched him practice  
that energy wave and basic swordsmanskills.

Kratos, meanwhile, went down the same dark hall he had stepped on years ago to meet Yggdrasill.  
"You wished to speak with me?" he asked, getting down on one knee.  
"Yes, I wanted to ask how your son is getting on with his training."  
Kratos frowned slightly at that question. "He's quick at learning and eager to learn more."  
"Good, good .." Yggdrasill said absent-minded. ".. Because I have a mission for him."  
"A mission? Sir, he's not even a teenager yet!" Kratos protested.  
"That may be, but he's strong as I heard and you say he's fast at learning."  
The subordinate remained quiet.  
"And as a reward, I will make him a Seraphim. His Level will depend on his success-rate."  
The other one nodded and got up slowly.  
"Oh, and, of course, for this mission, we will need a little .. alterfication .."  
"What do you mean by that, Sir?" Kratos asked.  
"About his Keycrest .." the Leader said and held up a golden crest, it was oval and the  
outer line was formed, so that it looked like a wing of an angel. "He will need to change it."  
Kratos looked at the keycrest, knowing what an effect it had.  
Taking it, he nodded. ".. What mission is this, that you send him on? It seems to be very important."  
Yggdrasill looked at his subordinate and smirked.  
"You should know, which one it is."

_Present_

"Lloyd."  
The boy turned. From the looks, he was at the end of his teenager years,  
his darkbrown hair wild over his head, obscurring a scar that parted his right eyebrow.  
He had a bloodred earring in his right earlobe, the color fitting perfectly with his  
jacket. The pants were tight and black with zipped up pockets and loose black belts, which  
made his legs look extra long.  
"What is it, Father?" he asked.  
"Yggdrasill is sending us on another mission." Kratos told him, he still looked like he had  
several years ago.  
".. To accompany the Chosen One?"  
Kratos nodded. "I still have my other mission to finish on Sylvarant. I'll try to catch up as soon  
as I can."  
Lloyd nodded. "Chosen One .. living in Iselia?"  
"Correct. You should have no problem with it."

The wind was flowing gently and the sky was a perfect blue on Sylvarant.  
Lloyd took his blue wings out and flew as close as he deemed safe to Iselia in the northern part of  
Sylvarant and landed.  
He was going to stay close to Iselia and offer his protection to the Chosen, once he saw her  
close to the Oracle.  
A few steps before entering the little village, he stopped and turned his head to the west.  
Metall knocking against metall, cries of pain and rage.  
Clearly, a fight was going on.  
Lloyd quickly retraced his steps towards the fight, getting closer to the Chapel of Martel.

"Grandmother!" a girl's voice called.  
"Collet, run!"  
Shuffling steps. "Botta-sama, it's the Chosen One!"  
Lloyd took out his sword and quickly and quietly ran up the stairs.  
He stopped, before he knocked into a Desian in front of him.  
A group of Desianclothed people had circled a young girl with long blond hair and a boy with  
silver hair, younger than she was.  
"Chosen, your life belongs to me now!" a man snapped at her, wielding a very big red sword.  
"We won't let you Desians get away with this!" the young boy snapped, pulling out something  
that seemed like a toy, but was probably used as a weapon.  
The Desians surrounding them started to laugh.  
"W-what's so funny?!" the boy snapped at them, clearly trying to look braver than he was.  
"Well, we'll just let you die by the hand of us 'Desians'." one of them said and was about to charge  
at them, when another one of them gasped in pain  
and fell forward, not getting up anymore.  
They all looked over and saw Lloyd, who had stabbed him.  
"If you wish to fight, leave the kids alone." he said and sneered.  
Botta, who seemed to be agast at Lloyd's sudden appearance, caught himself again.  
"Charge!" he told his subordinates.

Quickly, Lloyd had dispatched of all the Desians that had run towards them.  
He pointed his sword at Botta.

"You want to be next?" he asked.  
"Hrm .." Botta glared at him. "Never thought one of your rank would show up ...."  
And he left as fast as the wind.  
An old woman crept towards him, leaning on a walking stick.  
"Thank you so much, young man. You saved the Chosen's Life!"  
Lloyd looked over to the two kids, more closely at the girl.  
"So, she's the Cosen .."  
The girl nodded. "Yes, I am. Grandmother, I'm going to undergo the Trial now."  
"But, Collet," her grandmother protested. "the Priests are dead!"  
"What Priests?" the young boy asked.  
"The Priests who were to accompany her through the Trial. They got killed by  
those Desians."  
Lloyd looked over to the old woman again, seeing his chance.  
"I'm a mercenary and I'd like to offer you my service to accompany the Chosen through her Trial."  
The old woman looked at him, slightly worried.  
"Very well, we have no other choice at the moment. Please, do so."  
Collet stepped towards Lloyd.  
"Excuse me, but could Genius probably come with us?" she asked. "He's a good friend of mine and  
I get nervous when he's not around."  
Lloyd looked over to the young boy. "You Genius?"  
He nodded. "Yes, I'm Genius Sage."  
".. Very well, come with." the older said, knowing that if it came to it, he'd be able to protect both.

The inside of the chapel was dark, lit with some torches and cold air rushing through every now and then.  
"Ehh .. very different from what I imagined .." Genius mumbled to himself, looking at the greenish black walls.  
"This is the first time, I'm inside, too." Collet told him. Then she looked over to Lloyd. "Um, what is your name?"  
"Pardon, that I didn't introduce myself yet." Lloyd quickly said. "My name is Lloyd Aurion."  
"It's nice to meet you." Collet said and smiled.

They all looked at the shining Cruxis Crystal that was in the middle of the altar.  
It was a dark red color and around it was a keycrest made from ordinary metall, not Inhibitor Ore, but  
they didn't notice that.  
Instead, a bright light flooded the room suddenly and an angel with white wings appeared,  
his blonde hair shining brightly.  
They stared up at him.  
"I am Remiel." he told them and looked back at them interested. "Where is the Chosen One?"  
"I am the Chosen One, Remiel-sama." Collet told him.  
While Remiel told them about the purpose of the Regeneration Journey, Lloyd stared at him and  
frowned slightly, trying to remember his status.

In front of his Inner Eye, a list appeared with names and rank of several angels,  
looking for Remiel.  
Remiel - Level 58  
His third time as the Angel Of Cruxis' Blessing for the Chosen's Journey.

"Chosen Collet, I will await you at the Fire's Seal, south of here." Remiel said and flew a bit upwards  
before vanishing in a flash of light.  
"Chosen, let's go." Lloyd said, yanking himself out of his thoughts. "We have to tell the Village that you  
received the Oracle."  
Collet nodded and she followed Lloyd, Genius close to them back outside.

* * *

Back in the Village, everyone who saw Collet greeted her and looked happy or expectedly.  
Genius gave Collet a little bag with cookies, her birthday present. He was a bit bummed that it  
seemed so ordinary, seeing as the next day Collet was off on her Journey.  
"No, it's okay, really." she assured him and gave him a hearty smile. "I love your Cookies."  
"Alright. I'll see you later." Genius said a bit ashamed and left, Lloyd and Collet going into her house.  
They were greeted by Collet's father Frank, her grandmother who had gone back to the village and  
the mayor of Iselia.  
A short while later, a woman came in with silver hair and blue eyes, very identical to Genius' and  
she sat down at the table.  
Lloyd studied her a bit.

She looked like she was about beginning or mid of her twenties. But he  
could tell from her mana, that she was half-elven, so her true age may be not what her outside showed.  
But he guessed that she was probably the older sister of Genius.

".. Raine-san will accompany you on your Journey, Chosen." the mayor said, Lloyd startled slightly  
at breaking out of his thoughts.  
Collet nodded, not having gotten anything to really say in the discussion yet.  
"And I don't want to step too close, Lloyd-san," the mayor said and looked a bit doubtful. "but I don't  
really think that you would be able to be of great assistance in the Journey .."  
Lloyd had counted on something like that happening.  
"Rest asure. Do not let my appearance trick you! I have had vigorous swordsmanship training since young  
age and basic mercenary training as well, taught by my father." he said. "I would put my life on the line,  
to protect the Chosen!"  
Collet looked over to him with a sudden turn of her head, her lips parting and her eyes widening.  
"But if it satisfies you - my Father is currently on a mission himself, but should be done soon. I'm sure  
he'd willingly come along to accompany the Chosen on her Journey."  
The mayor looked a bit surprised, but nodded.  
"Very well, then I will officially hire you - and your father once you meet him - as Protectors of the Chosen."

The discussion then went on to several small topics, like wether Collet's Identity should be kept secret  
in any city they might get to, in case someone might oppose the Regeneration or would inform the Desians  
of her whereabouts,  
or what necessities were made to keep the Chosen safe, aside from her protectors.  
In the End, they agreed on the next morning to leave for the Journey, trying to get to the desert  
fast, before nightfall, when it got freezingly cold.  
"Lloyd-san, Iselia may be small, but we'd be willing to give you accomodation for tonight." Phaidra, Collet's  
grandmother, offered him.  
"It is no problem at all. I prefer to sleep under the stars." he said politely and left the table and house with  
Raine.  
She looked over to him.  
"You seem rather calm about the whole matter of the Journey. Remember, it _will_ be dangerous." she told him.  
"I am very aware of that." he said. "But my Father told me to always keep a cool head in every situation."  
Raine nodded.  
"But aren't you worried?" Lloyd asked. "You are a young woman and I can tell that your little brother is  
very fond of you, almost dependant."  
"It will be no problem. I'm a Healer and any injury that might be sustained during the Journey, I can heal." Raine  
contered. "And Genius is very mature for his age, he will be able to take care of himself for a while."

_"I'm currently around Haima."_ Kratos' voice said.  
Lloyd nodded. "I'm not sure which order Remiel will tell the Chosen to go, so we'll either see you soon or not."  
A golden chain came from Lloyd's earring, that had a little hollow place to keep things, down to his chin, where  
a tiny microphone was placed.  
_"Very well. I still have to bring the rests of the Priests back to Luin. Tell me about when you'll get to Asgard  
and I'll try to catch up in time."  
_"Alright."  
The microphone and chain got put back into the earring, the front part of the earring put closed.

The current Chosen was .. yes, Yggdrasill had said that she was the most important one since Cruxis was  
formed.  
And he could see why. Her hair was long and it might not be the same color, but her mana that surrounded  
her body all the time had  
a nearly identical signature to that of Martel.  
Slowly, Lloyd got his sword out and took a deep breath.  
About thirty minutes of vigorous training usually helped to clear his mind.

Lloyd moved in a blur, his sword glinting every now and then when it caught the moonlight.  
"_Majinken, Renkuuzan, Mouhagouhazan, Shishisenkou!_"  
The various attacks formed energy waves, the last one formed as a lion.  
"Ah! _Reduce Damage!_" a high voice screeched and a green light shone for a moment.  
Lloyd stopped in his training and saw that he had almost hit Collet.  
"I'm sorry, Chosen One." he quickly said. "Did I hit you?"  
Collet, recovering from the shock, nodded and then smiled. "You didn't hit me. I'm sorry, perhaps I shouldn't  
have come close."  
"It's my fault. I shouldn't forget myself during training." he said cooly, cursing himself for not  
getting further in his training. "What are you doing out of the village at night?"  
"I .. um, I wanted to see you." she admitted, looking a bit worried that she might have made him angry by  
coming.  
Lloyd looked at her in surprise.

Could it be, that she had fallen for him?  
He sincerely hoped not.  
Not, because he hated her, but he didn't want to get too close to the Chosen, who was so important for  
Cruxis.  
Nor did he want to hurt her feelings by seeming to be interested in her, while he was not.

"I, I wanted to ask you something." she said  
and Lloyd sighed quietly in relief.  
"What is it?"  
".. During the discussion about the Journey, you said that you'd put your life on the line for me, so I would  
regenerate the world."  
"And that is true."  
Collet seemed to have wanted an answer to that and nodded.  
"Thank you .." she muttered. "Hihi, I still can't quite believe that the day has come. Since my birth,  
everyone kept saying that The Day Of Prophecy will come. How important it was and how I should look  
forward to it, too. And now it's come. It's still sort of surreal to me .."  
Lloyd listened, not knowing what he should say to that.  
"Hihi, tomorrow, we'll go on the Journey to regenerate the World. I'll become an angel and then .."  
Lloyd side-glanced at her. "Then?"  
"Ah, it's not important." she quickly said and giggled again. "Good Night, Lloyd."  
"Good Night, Chosen." Lloyd said and watched her going back to the village, into her house.

Morning was bright and all the villagers of Iselia were at the entrance, cheering and running forward to  
shake Collet's hands or, in case of her family, hugs.  
"We're counting on you, Chosen One!"  
"Be careful!"  
"Yes, everything will be alright!" Collet kept repeating while shaking hands and waving. "I'll do my best!"  
After a long goodbye from all the villagers, Raine, Lloyd and Collet started out on their Journey,  
heading towards the south.  
"Say, Lloyd, your eyecolor .."  
"What about it?" Lloyd asked.  
"They look darkbrown, but when you look closer, they look positively red." she said, wondering if  
perhaps it was just a trick of the light. "What about your parents?"  
"My mother had green eyes, and my father's eyes may be the same color of red." he answered curtly.  
"I see .." Raine wanted to see the father soon to check, if he had the same queer eyecolor as his son or not.

They made a quick stop at the House of Salvation, about midway to the desert.  
Midday hadn't quite reached yet, so they were still in time.  
"So, your father is currently on a mission. Since when?" Raine asked.  
"He left about a week ago with a large group of Priests and Priestesses of the Church of Martel. They  
needed protection while passing the Ossa Trail, over to Haima."  
"I see .."  
"It smells like smoke .." Lloyd thought to himself, trying to trace where the scent came from.  
Collet said, they should continue on as fast as they could with their Journey.  
"Sylvarant needs to be regenerated." she said.  
"But, Chosen, don't overdo it." Lloyd told her. "It wouldn't be good for you to overexert yourself."  
Collet nodded though.  
"But I'm fine."  
They continued onwards towards the desert, putting on thick leather cloaks over their shoulders and heads to keep  
the sun out of their eyes.  
Lloyd stopped in his tracks and listened.  
"Lloyd?" Collet asked.  
".. Someone's coming." he said and unsheathed his sword, positioning himself in front of Collet.  
Raine got her staff out, ready to form a barrier around them within a second's notice.  
The figure came closer and closer, finally close enough to recognize who it was.  
Lloyd and Raine both sheathed their weapons again and waited for Genius to catch up.  
"Genius!" Raine said in a tone that sounded more like a mother. "Didn't I tell you to stay behind? What are you doing here?"  
Genius needed a minute to catch his breath.  
"Nee-san, I got banished from Iselia." he told them and began to explain.  
He had had a friend at the Iselian Humanranch and had been seen the day before by the Desians.  
A few hours ago, they had attacked Iselia, burning down the houses and forcing him to show himself.  
When he did, the friend at the ranch, who's Exsphere never had gotten a keycrest and been taken off, was  
turned into a monster and attacked him.  
He had to kill his friend.  
"And since I broke the Peacetreaty between the Desians and Iselia and for the trouble I caused, I got banished." he finished.  
"I thought of perhaps joining you on your Journey .."  
He looked uncertain around.  
"Of course, Genius. I'd be happy to have you with us on the Journey." Collet smiled, happy to have a familiar face around.  
"Nee-san, I'm sorry .. they burned our House down, too .." Genius admitted, looking ashamed to the ground.  
Raine ruffled her little brother's hair and smiled.  
"It's alright. As long as you are safe."

* * *

A cloak had been put around Genius' shoulders and head as well and after a long  
marsh, with a small reststop at Triet, they had finally reached the Ruins of old Triet.  
The pillars were scratched smooth by sandstorms, except for a large black stone that looked like a huge door.  
"Eh?" Collet stepped closer. "That has my family's crest on it."  
They all looked and Raine started to laugh.  
"Yes, it's clearly, without any doubt, the sign of the Chosen's Family!" she gasped and inspected the door. "Ah, the black  
stone with the silver threads running through it - Of course, the sign that it is made out of Polycarbonate!"  
She continued to study it, as well as the pillars - who told great stories of the Ancient Triet, but were not out of Polycarbonate.  
".. Your big sister seems very interested in Ruins." Lloyd finally said, slightly amused.  
Genius sighed heavily. "I so tried to hide it up to now .. She's pretty much a Maniac .."  
"Collet, please, put your hand onto the door!" Raine said. "It should open for you!"  
Collet looked surprised and nodded, putting her hand onto the cold stone.  
The crest lighted up and the stone moved sideways, giving the way free to some stairs out of the same black material, but  
without the silver threads through it.

The stairs brought them to a room with a high ceiling, all out of black stone, the torches on the light  
filling the room with constant heat and flickering.  
"Who's there!?" a voice echoed.  
The next moment, a woman jumped in front of them.  
Short, fire red hair was decorated with a tiara that seemed to burst out at the sides, making it look like a phoenix' wings.  
Her dark skin blended nicely with her yellow eyes,  
her clothes was made out of red leather that got crossed in front of her chest and some tightfitting pants that went down  
to her knees, the sandals lacing up to the pants.  
They stared at her, surprised that someone would be here.  
"You have no buisness here!" she snapped at them and charged, using something that looked similiar to a Chakram,  
the same weapon Collet used.  
Lloyd parried the hit and guided his sword underneath her crooked arm, swinging her over his shoulder.  
The woman just barely managed to land on her feet, staring at them.  
"Please, listen!" Collet begged her, noticing the glares that travelled from the woman to Lloyd and back, worried that they  
might start fighting in earnest. "I am the Chosen One, here to perform my duty."  
The woman flinched at the word 'Chosen One' and got up, putting her weapon back onto their hooks on her belt.  
"You are the Chosen One, starting her Journey?" she asked.  
"Yes, I am." Collte nodded.  
The woman studied her for a while. "I am Ifurita, the Priestess of Ifrit's Temple. If you really are the Chosen, proceed  
to the altar."  
The altar was out of the Polycarbonate, like the door, and a bright fire was blazing in the middle.  
Collet nodded and stepped shyly to the front of the altar.  
She clasped her hands together and started to pray.

"You have done well, Chosen." Lloyd complimented her, after Remiel disappeared in a ray of golden light.  
Collet looked over to him and smiled, nodding.  
She needed a second to be able to make her wings, that she had sprouted through Angelpowers, disappear.  
Raine unfolded a map of Sylvarant.  
"Remiel said that the next Seal would be towards the north .." she muttered and checked the map.  
Lloyd looked at the map, too, Genius talking with Collet about how great her wings looked.  
"A secluded place north in Sylvarant. He probably meant the Tower of Mana."  
Raine nodded in agreement while Lloyd turned to the other two.  
"Hurry up, we need to leave." he said and Collet and Genius looked at him.  
"Yeees." they said and went out of the room with the high ceiling, Raine following them closely.  
Lloyd was about to step out, when Ifurita held him back.  
"Wait a second." she told him and stepped closer, studying his face.  
The swordsman flinched slightly, but remained quiet.  
".. It can't be. Must've been my mistake." she finally said. "Sorry."  
Lloyd nodded and left quickly, catching up with the others.

He ran right into the next problem, catching Collet by the arm, before she fell completely to the floor.  
"Chosen, are you alright?" he asked worried.  
"I-I'm .. fine .." she said, shivering.  
"You're obviously not." Raine contered and studied Collet's face. "Your lips are turning purple. You should go see a doctor."  
"Hang on a second." Lloyd said. "It's probably the Angeltrial. Remember that Remiel had said that it might be painful."  
They built up a camp just a few meters away, it was shaded mostly.  
While Genius offered to prepare the food, there was a slight discussion on who would take over nightwatch.  
"I'll do it." Lloyd said.  
"Are you sure?" Raine asked.  
"I could take over once you're tired." Collet offered.  
"No, Chosen. You are too weakened by the Angeltrial."  
After the meal, most of them went to sleep.  
Making sure that they were really asleep, Lloyd opened his earring again.  
"Father?"  
"_What is it, Lloyd?_"  
"Remiel told us to go north. So, we'll be in Luin probably by midday tomorrow. We have to get the Key for the Tower."  
"_That's true. Alright, I will remain in Luin for now._"  
".. Father, there's something-" Lloyd started but stopped immediately, putting the chain and microphone back into the earring.  
Collet sat up, her eyes wide open.  
The swordsman wondered if she had heard him.  
"Chosen, can't you sleep?" he asked without hesitation.  
Collet started and looked over to him.  
"Ah, I don't know what's wrong with me. Perhaps I'm still excited about all what has happened."

* * *

They crossed the desert towards the east slower than yesterday, since Collet looked slightly pale.  
She had remained the rest of the night awake, although she did lie back down and tried to sleep.  
Lloyd nodded slightly in appreciation when he studied her for a moment.  
He wondered, what his Father might be thinking. Lloyd hadn't been able to finish his message and  
with Collet awake, he couldn't try to contact him again.  
"The Ossa Trail recently has been very dangerous." Raine said. "Collet, it'd be best if you stay close to Lloyd, alright?"  
Collet nodded, stepping a bit closer to Lloyd.  
They got closer to the Ossa Trail, when they saw a figure standing at the beginning of the path leading upwards.  
A few meters away from her, they stopped, wondering what she wanted when she turned to them.  
Her almondshaped eyes were darkbrown and her ravenblack hair tied back into a ponytail. Her legs and arms were covered in  
a black suit, a big pink ribbon was keeping a lilac, shortsleeved jacket over her well endowed body,  
her gloves reaching up to her upperarms, while the boots stayed around ankle height.  
".. Is the Chosen of Mana among you?" she asked in a sophisticated voice.  
Lloyd studied her, as well as Raine did, wondering if what would happen if they answered.  
"I am the Chosen." Collet said, stepping forward and smiling widely, like she usually did.  
The woman smirked and took something out of her ribbon that looked like a card.  
"Die!" she hissed and charged at Collet.  
"_Majinrengazan!_" Lloyd yelled, slashing his sword three times towards the ground.  
Three fanged energy waves hit the woman, causing her to get knocked against a lever, which opened up a mineshaft  
underneath her and she fell.  
Collet gasped and kneeled down next to the shaft.  
"Oh no! I hope she's alright!"  
"Collet, it may seem harsh, but it was necessary." Raine told her. "And if it hadn't happened, you would've been killed."  
Lloyd side-glared at Raine.  
"I hope you don't mean that I would've let her get killed?" he asked.  
Raine avoided his gaze.  
"I didn't mean it like that. It is thanks to your reaction, that the enemy is gone."  
"I see .."

* * *

**Cat:** And the new chapter is finished. I still don't think I quite got the coldhearted Lloyd I wanted.  
Perhaps I'm not meant to make a coldhearted Lloyd ..  
I'm getting depressed now ..  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter - as you see I made some slight changes.  
By the way, once I find out how to draw Lloyd's hair well, I will upload a picture of his clothes from this story.

The techniques in the story are as followed  
Demon Fang  
Demon Fang  
Tempest  
Twin Tiger Blade  
Beast  
Demonic Chaos


	2. 2: Revenge with Consequences

**Cat:** Ok, obviously, nobody can **deal** with Raine's japanese name.  
So, yeah, I changed it.  
God, I'm pissed off. Comes from giving Collet so many lines in Whackphonia Chapter 4.  
And the whole Sylvarant part may look so bam-bam-fast because I want to get it over with.  
It's the most boring part in the story.  
Btw, I changed the Refill into Raine by now.  
And I know, I completely forgot Noishe .. he's staying on Derris Quaran.

* * *

They hastily crossed the Ossa Trail, Raine and Lloyd keeping an eye out for the woman,  
who had attacked Collet.  
But they didn't encounter her anymore until they were safely taking a break in the Fishercity Izoold.  
Collet sighed.

"I hope that woman is alright .."

"Collet, you don't need to worry about her." Raine said cooly. "She was out for your blood after all."

"But still .. She had such nice eyes .."

Collet remained sad about the woman for the rest of the day.  
Lloyd, lying in his bed with his arms behind his head, was staring at the wooden roof.  
He could sense that Collet was awake, pretending to sleep, just like he was.  
He would've liked to inform his father about it at that very moment - but he couldn't.  
Collet would know he would be awake and would wonder where he was going to.

While the others were eating breakfast in the morning, Lloyd hid behind the Inn,  
the earring once more turned into the communication device.

"Father?" he asked,  
but there was no answer.  
There was slight static, but otherwise it remained silent.  
He put the chain back into the earring.  
Perhaps he was in the middle of a crowd and couldn't answer.

The bridge leading to the northern continent was long and not very stable,  
so they had to be extra careful, crossing it taking more time than it usually would.  
About halfway to Haima, Lloyd frowned slightly and walked slower.  
"Something wrong, Lloyd?" Collet asked worried.  
"No, just .. nothing .." he muttered to himself.

He was probably imagining it, the scent was hardly noticable.  
They quickened their pace, trying to get to the next city before night fell.

"I was wondering, Lloyd .. why are you so intent on getting to Luin soon?" Raine asked.

"The Church of Martel in Luin is responsible for the Tower of Mana, they had it locked  
several years ago." he explained and she nodded.

Several yards away from Luin, they stopped in shock.  
The silhouette of the city was burned black and a bit of smoke was still rising up to the sky.

**"**_**That's true. Alright, I will remain in Luin for now.**_**"**

Lloyd trembled slightly, finally biting his lips and ran off.  
".. Father!"

"Lloyd, wait!" Raine called after him,  
but he was already out of hearing range.

Quickly catching up with him, they looked horrified at the destroyed fountain,  
water running onto the muddy ground from the basin, the houses halfway  
burned down or destroyed by force looking very unstable.  
Lloyd was frantically turning his head this way and another, his breath in short takes.

"Father ..!" he kept calling, turning this way and another when he saw no one but corpses.

A steady crunching sound was heard and they stopped at a little side off the destroyed city.  
A man with auburn hair and darkblue clothing was digging graves.

"Fa .. Father!" Lloyd called and the man turned around.

The boy ran into the man's arms, who let the shovel drop to the ground.

"Lloyd .." he said in a deep voice and embraced his son with visible relief.

The others kept their respective distance, until the two men broke apart and the older one looked at them.  
"Who are you?" he asked in a polite, yet curious voice.

"Father, this is the Chosen of Mana." Lloyd introduced them.

"My name is Collet Brunel. It's nice to meet you, Mr .." Collet smiled widely.

"Kratos. I'm Kratos Aurion, Lloyd's father." he introduced himself, smiling slightly.

Collet bowed slightly to greet him.  
Genius nodded his head. "I'm Genius Sage, a childhood friend of hers."

Raine stepped forward and shook hands with Kratos.  
"Raine Sage, their teacher and Genius' sister." she said. "I hope I am not sounding rude, but you look too young to be his father."

"I hear that a lot." Kratos said. "But I am really 39 years old."

* * *

"So, you were engaged to protect the Chosen .." Kratos said, having heard of them what happened up to now.

"And you're engaged as well, if you come with us." Lloyd told him and he nodded.

Kratos agreed to come with them,  
but first he'd finish burying all the people in Luin.

"We'll help you!" Collet said and they started to dig graves for the Dead,  
laying them inside and speaking prayers for them.

Lloyd was moving board after board from destroyed houses where the roofs collapsed.  
Searching for more Dead or, if he was lucky, finding a survivor.  
"Lloyd, don't push yourself." Raine warned him, knowing that he had done all this with great speed.

"I don't want mountains of corpses to be my only memory again!" he snapped at her and continued to move the roof boards.

Raine stepped back a bit, surprised of his outburst,  
but also of what he said.  
The last board moved, a hole in the ground was revealed, where the floor  
of the ground level had been destroyed and gave a good view into the cellar.  
Someone was lying down there.  
Lloyd jumped in and kneeled beside the person.  
He recognized her as the woman who had tried to kill Collet at the Ossa Trail.  
Checking for a pulse, he found a strong one at her throat and he sighed in relief.

"Lloyd .. where is he?" Collet's voice said and looked down the hole. "There you are!"

"Chosen, could you ask my father to come here?" he asked her and she nodded, disappearing for a second again.

Lloyd carefully lifted the woman over his shoulder and looked around.  
There was no real help to get outside of the cellar, the stairs buried under some gravel as well.

"Lloyd?" his father's voice asked.

Lloyd finally tightened his grip around the woman's waist and jumped off the wall,  
clinging a hand to the edge of the hole.  
"Take her." he said and Kratos and Raine carefully took her off him and laid her on the ground,  
Lloyd lifting the rest of himself out of the hole.

Raine healed the serious wounds, the others would heal over time by themselves  
and now they had to wait for answers until she woke up.  
It didn't take long for her to open her eyes again and she looked at them.

"You .." she muttered. "Kill me, I don't have .. the strength to fight .."

"You were hurt badly." Collet said in a worried voice, ignoring the comment.

"Those were nothing!" she snapped and sighed, leaning against the wall. "Why did you save me, anyway?"

"Ask them." Raine nodded over to Collet and Genius.

"W-we couldn't just leave you there!" Collet finally stuttered. "Um, would you give us your name?"

She looked at her in a surprised matter.  
Why should she give her name to the person she wanted to kill?

".. Shihna .." she finally muttered.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, Shihna." Collet smiled.

Lloyd stepped closer and looked down at her, one hand on a hip.  
"Could you tell us what happened?"

With a little strain and help from Lloyd, Shihna stood up, though still leaning heavy on the wall.  
"The Desians. The Desians from the eastern Ranch attacked." she said. "They found out that  
some people from Luin had given some escapees from the ranch refuge."

"And that's why they destroyed the whole city?" Genius asked indignated.

Shihna nodded.  
"The 'lucky' ones died, most of the survivors were taken to the Ranch."

"So, Asgard's Ranchleader, Kvar, attacked the city," Kratos said, stepping next to his son and put the hand on his shoulder.  
"murdered everyone or took them to the Ranch .. why?"

"I don't know!" she glared at him. "Why should I know how the Desians think?"

Lloyd went towards the back again, his fingers and hands twitching.  
He bit his lip until he tasted blood and grabbed one arm with the other to stop the trembling.

"Lloyd, are you okay?" Collet asked him quietly, while the others continued to talk.

"It's nothing." he said and took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

Kratos, listening to what Shihna said, side-glanced at his son and frowned.  
Meanwhile, Lloyd's trembling seemed to get worse and he hunched over slightly.

"Lloyd?" Collet asked again.  
She gasped when she saw a little trickle of blood running down from his mouth to his chin.  
But before she could say anything, he had ran off.

"Where is he going?" Shihna asked surprised, everybody staring after the boy.

Kratos gasped. "He's going to the ranch!" he said and tried to catch up with his son,  
the others running after him.

"Are you saying, Lloyd wants to destroy the ranch?" Genius gasped for breath while running.

"Probably. I'm more worried about his mental health." the father answered.

They looked at him, wondering what he meant, but decided to get to their destination first,  
then ask questions.

* * *

They stared in horrid at the scene in front of him.  
Desian corpses were lying around everywhere, mingled with blood, some of them almost  
completely severed from other parts of their bodies.

"Was .. that .. Lloyd?" Genius gasped, looking very sick.

Raine put a hand over her mouth and looked at Kratos, who was already continuing onwards,  
looking for his son.  
"Kratos, what did you mean when you were worrying about his mental health?" she asked.

"He shouldn't lose control of himself." was all he said.

They continued to search for Lloyd,  
mostly following a brutal, bloody and destructive path.  
"How can he kill so many people in such a short time?" Shihna asked, having run after them  
by instinct.

"He's probably full of surprises."

Kratos opened the next door and finally found Lloyd.  
In a horrible situation.  
Floating stones were surrounding him and currently electrocuting him.

"You're too weak." a man with geled back hair, Kvar, said.  
The stones stopped sending electricity through Lloyd's body and he lay limb on the floor.  
"Weren't you going to kill me?"

Lloyd got up slowly and swayingly, his muscles still twitching from the electricity.  
Gripping his sword tighter, he charged at Kvar,  
who just parried his hit with a staff and the stones went after Lloyd again.

"_Barrier!_" Raine casted the spell around Lloyd before the stones got him.

Kvar looked over and smirked, showing off some pointy teeth.  
"If it isn't Kratos .."

Kratos glared at him and grabbed the hilt of his sword.  
"Here to kill me, too?" Kvar asked and laughed in a mocking way.  
Lloyd stabilized himself on his legs again and slowly and quietly as possible,  
he made a detour to get behind Kvar.

"Finally strong enough to get revenge for A012?" Kvar sneered. "Or are you just going to  
glare at me?"

Kratos barely moved his lips, until finally a strong breeze flew towards Kvar and slashed his  
arms and legs and his face.  
"Magic won't work against me that well, Kratos, you should know!" Kvar laughed. "You're  
just as dumb as that filthy Host!"

Lloyd, about halfway behind Kvar by now, flinched.  
"His eyes .. they're positively _red_!" Raine mumbled surprised.  
Lloyd charged at Kvar, his left arm using his sword to slash and stab Kvar several times,  
his dagger in his right hand,  
even after Kvar keeled over.

"Lloyd, stop it!" Collet finally called out in horror.

Lloyd finally stopped, his sword in Kvar's back.  
He was breathing heavy and after a moment of shock, the others slowly went towards him.  
Kratos grabbed his son by the shoulders.

"Lloyd, pull yourself together!" he urged him.

Lloyd, his eyes wide open as well as his mouth, breathing heavily, didn't seem to hear him  
at all.  
His fingers were tightly clamped around the hilt of his sword.  
His clothes and his face covered in Kvar's blood.

A mutter was barely audible and something glinted from the ceiling.  
Lloyd flinched, having seen it.  
"Chosen!" he yelled and grabbed her wrist, pulling her behind him, her falling to the ground  
and a sword made of electricity bored itself through his stomach out of his back.

".. LLOYD!!"

The sword stuck and wouldn't move, Raine told them that she couldn't heal him  
as long as the sword stayed there.  
Lloyd, clenching his hand, turned his head to his father and sneered, fresh blood trickling from his mouth.

".. _You_ .. finish him .." he hissed from between his teeth.

Kratos, already looking indignated at what Kvar had done to his son,  
went to Kvar and used his foot to kick him face upwards.  
He took his sword and stabbed it right into Kvar's heart.  
The latter gasped once more, coughed up blood and lay still.  
The sword in Lloyd disappeared, since the caster died, and Raine quickly used her best healing skills to  
heal him.  
Kratos kneeled down to his son.  
Lloyd took deep breaths and finally got up, a bit wobbly on his knees.

* * *

They needed a place to rest and since Luin was completely destroyed, they went to Asgard,  
although it was further away.

"Sorry for pushing you to the floor, Chosen." Lloyd had said at the first oppoturnity.

"It's okay. And you did it to save me."

Close to Asgard, Lloyd flinched and grabbed his shoulder.  
"Is your shoulder hurt?" Raine asked, wondering if she had missed an injury.

"No, i-it's nothing. It'll be over soon." he said quickly.

But every now and then he kept flinching, sometimes more severe than the other time.  
They quickly checked into an Inn, so they could rest.

Most of them were sitting around the table, talking.  
Lloyd was in the corner, washing the blood off his face with a towel.  
Raine looked at Kratos.

"Now, Kratos, I would like to know how it can be dangerous for Lloyd, if he loses control of himself?"

Kratos remained quiet for a bit.  
"When Lloyd loses control of himself, the mana inside of him goes wild. He loses all sense  
and runs amok, he won't even recognize anyone."

"And he has an aftereffect of those .. 'attacks'."

"Yes. When he calms down, the aftereffect kicks in." he explained the best he could.  
"He experiences 'stabs' where the mana is refreshing and flowing normally through again."

Lloyd sat down next to his father at the table.  
He had also taken his jacket off, soaking it in warm water to clean it.  
"Pain while he is 'regenerating' from running amok .." Raine muttered. "That's very rare,  
but it's been heard of. Since he has this 'illness', his mana must've been tampered with."

A cold silent filled the room while no one talked.  
A nerve twitched around Lloyd's right eye, but not from regenerating, but from anger.  
Kratos remained levelheaded and merely nodded.  
The conversation about Lloyd's status ceased and they finally went to bed.

In the middle of the night, Lloyd was lying in bed and sighed.  
He should've stayed calm. Of course now the aftereffect was wearing down, but still present.  
But .. when he heard Kvar's name, he couldn't control himself.  
Especially when that bastard had insulted her ..!  
He flinched when he felt the stabbing sensation in his leg.  
He sat up and looked around.  
Everyone was lying quietly in bed asleep, except for Kratos who was pretending.  
Shihna was the only one trashing from one side to another, in a more frequent way than before.

".. No!!" she screamed when she bolted up in bed, her hand reaching out to something.

Lloyd looked over to her, Kratos turning in his bed, but otherwise it was quiet again.  
"Shihna?" he asked carefully.  
She turned to look at him and sighed.

"Nothing .. just a nightmare .."

Lloyd nodded and flinched, grabbing his forehead.  
He clenched his teeth until the pain became bareable and he moved his hands.

"What's that?" Shihna asked and Lloyd looked surprised for a second. "On your right side."

Lloyd's hand automatically went to it and finally pushed his hair aside.  
A grazed scar was hidden behind it and parted his eyebrow.  
"I got that from my mother."

"What?!" Shihna gasped and quickly covered her mouth again.

Lloyd smirked slightly.  
"No, you see .. my mother used to be in a Humanranch."

"The Asgard One?" she asked and he nodded.

"My father busted her out of there, along with other people. She hired him as a protector,  
although she had no money, but he protected her. .. Finally, they fell in love and married, having me." he told her  
and smiled at the memories he all had gotten by asking his father. "The Desians though were looking for her,  
rather .. they were looking for her Exsphere."

"Why?" Shihna asked, completely engulfed in the story.

"I don't know. It must've been special somehow .." Lloyd's hand touched the stone on his left hand. "So,  
they had to flee and couldn't stay long at any place. Finally, when I was about three or four years old,  
they got us. Her Exsphere was removed .."

"What happens when that is done?"

".. The mana in the body gets out of control and turns the human into a bloodthirsty monster." he explained.  
"My father had to fight her, since she went after us. He tried everything to turn her to normal, but .. once your  
Exsphere is taken off - and you never received a keycrest, it's your death sentence."

".. So you got the scar when your mother attacked you?" Shihna dared to ask, hoping to not step too close to him.

"Ah .. I got it just before my father killed her." he heard Shihna gasp. "He had no other choice. Killing her was  
the only way to save her. Otherwise she would've roamed over the world and killed other innocent people."

"I see .. so, he had to kill the person he most loved." she muttered. ".. it's horrible to be responsible for someone's death."

Lloyd looked over to her.  
"What do you mean?"

".. It's my fault that my village people were attacked." she said with hesitation. "If I had been able to do my duty,  
they would still be alive."

Lloyd knew what she was talking about, but it might seem weird if he knew too much.  
"Perhaps it wasn't your fault, after all?"

"Everybody says that!" she snapped at him. "Everybody says it's not my fault! But I know what they're talking behind my back!  
And I know it's my fault."

They remained silent, Lloyd not knowing what he could say to convince her otherwise,  
Shihna remembering that part of her past.  
"Sorry to have bothered you." she quickly said and lay back down. "I think I'll be able to sleep now."

".. Night." he said and lay down, too, after a 'Good Night' from her.

* * *

"Seeing as how Luin has been destroyed, how are we going to get the Tower Key?" Genius asked.

Shihna asked what key they meant.  
Upon finding out that they meant the key to the Tower of Mana, she pulled it out of a pocket.  
"I was in Luin to ask the Priests for it." she explained then about a man she had wanted to help  
with a healing book inside the Tower.

Lloyd was sitting in a corner, looking tired but better, since the aftereffect had worn off  
and he wasn't flinching or twitching anymore.  
When Raine, who had just come out of her room, saw him she made a beeline for him and  
held his chin to look him in the eye.

".. Raine?" he asked cooly.

"Your eyes looked red yesterday." she explained her behaviour. "But it must've been a trick of the light.  
They really are brown."

She let go of his chin and joined the others.  
There was a slight discussion about Shihna, who had asked to join them.  
They agreed, but she had to give up her plans on killing Collet.  
While they were on their way to the Tower of Mana, Lloyd nudged Kratos in the side  
and they both lagged behind a bit.

"What?" Kratos asked.

"Why didn't your communicator work?" Lloyd asked first. "I tried contacting you before we left Izoold."

Kratos put a hand to his left ear where a similiar earring was, just in a blackish blue color.  
Apparently, everything was alright with it.

"Something else is troubling you." his father noticed.

".. The Priestess of Fire."

"What about her?"

"She recognized me."

Kratos stood still in his tracks and looked slightly horrified.  
He quickly caught himself again.  
"It doesn't matter. We will not have to go close to Ifrit's Temple anymore."

* * *

**Cat:** Yeah, I'll stop here.  
I was ages stuck on the part to where they get to Luin. Thankfully, I listened to  
Phenomenon. Thousand Foot Krutch if you want to know.  
And, sadly, I didn't get Lloyd "insane/amok" enough as I wanted to.


	3. 3: Almost there

**Cat:** Ok, I'm tired, but I'll try to do my best and get this done.  
Btw, I forgot to mention in the interview. Well, obviously, the white achat is .. white.  
Turmalin is a brown-orange stone.  
Kunzite is mostly a pale pink, almost white, transparent stone. They originally had a very dark

reddish-pink color, but they lose the intensity the longer the stone is set out to sunlight.  
So, it's best to wear that kind of jewelry at night.  
I reread some Caught Chapters and the Reviews - I'm so happy about reviews!  
And I changed a bit on the Caught Rewrite. So, now, it's the Caught Rewrite Rewrite.  
Ahahaha!  
Random Fact - Shinobi is Ninja

* * *

Shihna unlocked the door to the Tower of Mana and they entered,  
staring at the high ceiling and the rows of shelves stuffed with books.  
Straight ahead of them was an arch leading to the stairs that would bring them to the top of the tower.  
They started slowly on the stairs, not knowing how long they might have to climb them,  
the stairs making a turn to one side, then another until finally, they were at the top.  
Raine was looking around expectingly.

"What's the matter?" Shihna asked, wondering about the woman's behavior.

"I'd like to see the Priestess of this Temple." was all the silverhead answered and searched more.

"Not all the Priestesses show themselves to the Chosen." Lloyd told her pushing open the big portal,  
which would lead them to the altar.

The altar was made out of sandstone, stairs that lead to the altar's top seemed to float in mere air,  
nothing to keep them from falling, if the steps would give under their weight.  
Collet carefully went ahead, getting nervous as she drew closer to the altar.  
The earth shoke and the altar glowed, a golden pattern rising from it and swirling itself into a ball.  
They all stared and, closing their eyes to slits, could make out the shadow of a woman in it.

"Asuka ..?" she asked. "Where are you?"

The next second, the golden ball had disappeared and Remiel had taken it's place.  
He looked down on them and smiled.  
"You have reached your second seal, Chosen." he said and spread his arms. "Receive your blessings  
and gain Angel Powers."

Four balls out of light, similiar to the ones from the Fire Seal, flew down to Collet and penetrated her back,  
forcing her wings to gush out again.  
"Your next goal lies to the east of here. I expect you to do well." Remiel said and bowed his head slightly, before  
disappearing again.  
"A real angel .."  
"What was that, Collet?" Genius asked when the girl came back to them.  
"Ah, nothing." Collet smiled and shook her hands at them. "I just wondered what it was like to be a real angel."

They slowly started to descend the stairs, Raine kept looking around, still searching for the priestess.  
"It is such a tragedy to not get the research I need .." she sighed when they got to the exit of the Tower.

"The Priestesses have different kinds of duties." Lloyd explained. "All of them have to stay at their  
altar and protect it from anyone who might try to infiltrate. But their duty also has written how well the  
Priestess has to remain hidden."

"Oh? How come you know that?" Raine asked curiously.

"I am quiet interested in History and Ancient Culture." Kratos told her. "So, he naturally grew up  
with much information about those subjects."

"I see .."

* * *

Night was quiet aside from the crackling of the flames.  
Kratos, volunterring as the first shift of nightwatch, stared into them, lost in his thoughts,  
while Lloyd was leaning against him back to back, arms crossed.  
Of course, he was pretending to sleep, but it was best to maintain low profile.

Collet, though, turned from one side to another and back,  
adjusting and readjusting the blanket to cover her more or less, trying to fall asleep.  
"Having trouble?" Kratos asked and Collet started so rough she sat up.  
"U-um .. No, not really." she quickly replied. "It's just that the past few days I had trouble falling asleep."  
Kratos stirred, nudging Lloyd slightly in the ribs, who had flinched when hearing Collet's words.  
A sign to tell him to keep staying 'asleep'.

"Chosen," Kratos said, focusing his eyes on the girl now. "if you have trouble sleeping, you should try  
to count the stars. Although a human life is far too short to count them all."

Collet looked at him with her wide, blue eyes and nodded, turning her gaze to the black nightsky.  
Minutes went past, maybe even hours, until she lay back down and closed her eyes.  
Lloyd sat up, stretching, but remained silent.  
He could tell, just like his father for sure, that Collet wasn't asleep.  
Her breathing was slow and steady, but it didn't come deep from inside her.  
She had just calmed herself down and hoped that nobody would suspect anything.

".. It goes on fast."  
Lloyd jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound of his father's voice.  
Kratos' eyes were back in the flames, but Lloyd could tell he was talking about Collet.

"Apparently .." was all the boy said, turning his head slightly to look at his parent. ".. It wasn't your fault."  
He had changed the subject towards his mother, for he was sure that Kratos was thinking of her.

"If that is what you think." was all Kratos said, but he smirked sadly, which made Lloyd glare at him.

But he couldn't really have a big discussion over the fault of his father's for his mother's death now.  
Their voices were sure to get loud - like they always did when the talk came to the subject of Anna - and  
it would wake all of them up.  
Lloyd didn't like it if too many knew about his personal business.

So, he merely leaned his back against his father's again and crossed his arms with such force, that  
he almost felt like was about to break his arm.  
Kratos smirked, knowing what his son was feeling right now.  
"I will tell you. But-"

"Not now, I know." Lloyd finished the sentence and both remained quiet again.

When Kratos closed his eyes and his head nodded forwards a few times,  
it was his sign for Lloyd to take over.  
Kratos went a few steps away and leaned his back against a boulder, keeping his eyes closed.  
Lloyd looked like he had just woken up from sleeping, but sat with a certain air of assurance there.  
Both hoped that no one had woken up, but if they had, they had seen nothing suspiscious.

* * *

Raine had the map laid out in front of her, scanning it with her eyes.  
"The only holy place to the east would be the Mausoleum." she muttered to herself.

"If we leave within the next hour, we should make it shortly after noon." Kratos calculated,  
looking at the map.

She agreed, but nobody made way to leave, since Lloyd was still gone.  
They had realized that they were running short of some ingredients, so he had left for Haima  
to restock.

Meanwhile in Haima, Lloyd had already gotten everything he had to and was starting to head back.  
Although he was still a good way away, he could see everyone else, and was about to hurry up to them,  
when he felt a buzzing in his ear.  
He quickly stepped behind a boulder and clicked the earring open, holding the end of the chain  
with the teardropped shaped pendant to his mouth.

"Yes?"

_"Lloyd, I have been trying to contact your father first, but he is not answering. Could it be that he is fataly injured?"_

"Yggdrasill-sama," Lloyd said obidiently, bowing slightly in reflex. "no, he is not. Right now he is in close  
proximity to the Chosen. Therefore he can't answer, it would blow his cover."

_"I see. Well, at least you answered. How is the Chosen progressing?"_

"We just broke the second seal and she has already lost sense of eating and sleeping. She is progressing very fast."

_"So, you are going to be able to finish the Journey early?"_

"Most likely, yes."

_"Good, good. I had heard news from Rodyle - you and Kratos destroyed the Asgard Ranch."_

Lloyd flinched, trying to calm himself quickly again.  
There was no reason why Yggdrasill should get into a rage because of the Ranch.  
The Chosen had the closest mana-signature to Martel's since 4000 years. He was about to get his goal.  
But he couldn't help but think who Rodyle was again.

Rodyle - Level 558  
Grand Cardinal  
Most known Location - a floating Island in the Eastern Skies

He closed his eyes and decided to stay with the truth.  
"That is correct."

_"I know how much you and Kratos had wanted to injure him. I do not blame you."_

Lloyd could very easily detect the slight malice in his voice,  
certainly Yggdrasill was smirking to himself at that moment.

_"Don't worry yourself. I will not punish you, nor Kratos. You are both valuable to Cruxis.  
And Pronema had told me that Kvar was doing some shady business with Rodyle - Rodyle won't  
get away with anything anymore if he sets one toe out of line again."_

Lloyd nodded, knowing what that meant.  
Rodyle was probably going to be killed. And most likely it was going to be Pronema who will get  
the order to do it.

_"I want a status report on the Chosen soon again."_

"Of course, Yggdrasill-sama."

It stayed quiet for a while, so Lloyd put the earring back in place and hasted towards the group to rejoin.

* * *

When they entered the Mausoleum a strong gust of wind greeted them.  
The inside was barely lit with torches put here and there, it was cold and there was a constant breeze blowing.  
They had to walk slowly and carefully since they couldn't see the way that well.  
At one point, Collet tripped and knocked into something in front of her.

"Chosen, are you alright?" Kratos asked.

"Y-yes." Collet said and put her hand out.  
The same sign from the Mausoleum's door lit up and she stumbled into another room,  
this one being well lit and a staircase leading towards the next room, where the altar was.

"Your being clutzy is helpful sometimes, Collet." Genius grinned and laughed when Collet  
threw a little tantrum.

Lloyd flinched, sensing someone approaching and unsheathed his sword.  
It missed, but the blade got heavier and they all stared at the girl sitting on it with legs crossed.

"It's not very nice to greet someone with a sword."

The girl was wearing a tight, green bustee with puffy, seethrough sleeves and similiar pants,  
her feet stuck in silk shoes that had their points turning upwards.  
Her hair was put into two ponytails to the sides of her head, some thick strands  
still hanging over her ears.

"Are you .. the Priestess?" Raine asked, surprised that a little girl like her would have such an important duty.

"Yes." the girl leaned her arms on her knees and her head on her hands. She looked at Lloyd. "And you!"

Lloyd glared at her, not moving a muscle.  
She slapped her hands against his cheeks and put her face close to his so that the tips of their noses  
were almost touching.  
"Don't frown so much!" she grinned and lifted her body, doing a handstand with her hands still  
on Lloyd's cheeks. "Cause if you do, you'll get wrinkley when you're old!"

Lloyd remained quiet, a nerve around his eye twitching and his jaw clenched together tightly.  
The girl laughed at his expression and jumped, doing some somersaults before landing  
swiftly on her feets on the ground.  
"Lemme guess, you're the Chosen and her companions?" she asked, looking at them. "And you're here to break the seal."

"That's right." Collet said. "So, will you let us pass?"

"Hmm .. No. Because there is a password before I let you through!" the girl laughed. "And you have to guess what it is."

Everyone wondered how they could guess a password, without having a single clue what it could be.  
"And since I'm so nice, I'll give you a hint for every question you ask."

".. Is the password .. a noun?" Genius asked.

"Yes."

That, of course, didn't really narrow it down much, so they continued to ask some other questions.  
A few minutes later, Shihna sighed.  
"Is the password your name?"

"Nope, it is not 'Sefie'." she answered, giggling.

"Is the password something edible?" Collet asked and quickly put a hand to her mouth.

"Collet?" Raine asked worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Nothing to worry about." Collet reassured her.

The questions continued onwards, until finally,  
after what seemed to be about twenty minutes,  
Sefie admitted that the password was 'Lemon Frosting' and she let them past,  
disappearing in the middle of a somersault.

After breaking the seal, it was much easier to get outside of the Mausoleum.  
The dark rooms had lit up more than before and they were quickly out again.  
Lloyd caught Collet, who had tripped, in time.

"Are you alright, Chosen?" he asked, one hand on her back, the other holding her hand.

Collet nodded and opened her mouth to say something .. but no sound came out.

* * *

Camp was very quiet that night, until Shihna stood up.  
"Guys, I've got something to say." she said, everyone turning their heads to her. "The reason, why I  
tried to kill Collet .."

"Is because you are trying to save your world." Raine finished and smirked at Shihna's horrified look.

"S-so you knew?"

"No. But it did start to make sense after a while." the woman said. "Why would you want to kill  
the Chosen One, who will regenerate and therefore save this land? It must be because you  
don't want this land to be saved. So, you must be from somewhere else."

"Hm, your intelligence is really wasted here." Shihna nodded in agreement. "Yes, I come from Tethe'alla."

"The moon?" Genius asked and flinched when Lloyd chuckled to himself about something.

Shihna laughed amused. "No, I'm not from the Moon. .. Actually, I don't get it myself,  
but Tethe'alla and Sylvarant are parallel to and affect each other."

"How so?"

"They both need mana." Shihna sighed. "Right now, Tethe'alla is flourishing while Sylvarant is declining.  
If you succeed in your journey, Tethe'alla will start to decline."

"It's like an Hourglass." Raine realized. "But it can't be helped. If there was such a thing as  
the Eternal Tree from Mithos' Tales we wouldn't have to worry about mana. But we have to  
live from the little amount we have."  
She looked at Shihna.  
"You were sent here to make sure that Sylvarant continues to decline by killing the Chosen.  
To save Tethe'alla. And yet .. you are fighting along side us at the moment."

"Th-that doesn't mean I'm going to abandon Tethe'alla!" the Shinobi snapped. "If it were possible ..  
if it were possible for Tethe'alla and Sylvarant to flourish .."

Collet, who had been sitting closest to the fire up to now, clapped her hands together and got up,  
trotting over to the two Aurions.  
Lloyd looked mildly interested when Collet took his hand and started to trace Letters with  
her fingers on it.  
".. 'I will ask Remiel if I can regenerate both worlds'." he read out loud when Collet finished.

"If that worked, it'd be perfect." Genius cheered and caught Kratos' and Lloyd's gaze. ".. Wh-what?"

"Nothing of importance." Kratos said, his gaze straying to Shihna, whose expression had changed as well.

"You do realize that if it fails" she said and smirked slightly. "I will kill you."

Collet looked expressionless to Shihna and then wrote on Lloyd's hand again.  
".. 'If that happens, I will fight for Sylvarant's sake'."

The atmosphere got heavy and depressing after that, but after a while, one by one they fell asleep.  
The next morning, they headed for Haima, since Kratos knew of a man who sold  
Rides on Dragons to the Tower of Salvation.

Haima was a small village, it was barely even that.  
There was a store for food and for equipment, the main attraction being an Inn. The man who sold the rides  
was in his thrities a wild hairdo sprouting from his head and thick sunglasses.  
He was a bit worried when Raine, who had taken over negotiation, said that they wanted to LAND  
at the Tower not just circle it with the dragons.  
Of course the man didn't want to endanger his dragons, nor his business, but once he found out that  
it was for the sake of the Worldregeneration, he made sure that the dragons they were to use were  
the best and he wouldn't charge anything.  
Anything to help the Chosen on her Journey.

The downside was that the rides could only be given to them by tomorrow, so they had to spend  
the rest of the day in Haima.  
Shihna was playing with Corrine, a human-made elemental spirit, and Genius was  
trying to have a conversation with Collet.  
Kratos and Lloyd stayed at the graveyard a bit away from the Inn.

"Yggdrasill-sama knows we killed Kvar." Lloyd said bluntly, his father not even stirring an eyebrow.

"I assume we are in trouble?"

"Not at all." the boy stretched and leaned against the banister, crossing his arms. "He understands  
and is actually quite angry at Rodyle, who told him that."

"Hm .. and Yggdrasill wanted to know about the Chosen's condition?"

"Yes. He was pleased to hear that she was progressing fast."

Kratos turned to his son.  
"I'm quite surprised about that myself. Why did it go so fast?"

"Perhaps because her signature is so close to Martel's?" Lloyd shrugged his shoulders without interest.  
"I noticed at the Fire Seal that she was having trouble sleeping."

"Hm, well, not much longer and the Journey will be over." Kratos said, his gaze straying along  
the sides.

"The sooner we leave for the Tower, the sooner Cruxis will have finished it's goal." the boy  
sighed in relief and then gasped.  
His senses sharpened and he realized someone was close by.

Collet was standing a few feet away from them, staring with wide eyes at them.  
Her hand was clenched over her Cruxis Crystal, the faint glint showing through her fingers.  
It was hard to tell which of the three people was most amazed to see the other  
person across them.

* * *

**Cat:** Yes, it became faster again.  
Yes, I skipped the Water Seal - who cares? The water seal wasn't  
important in the manga, anyway.  
Of course, now you'll wonder what about Pietro, the unicorn and- hey I had forgotten about the unicorn.  
Oh well, I still know how to fix things.  
Horray an update after a long time!


	4. 4: To the Tower

**Cat:** Can't .. quite .. get into writing mode ..  
I'll do my best, though!

* * *

The wind seemed to be unusually loud.  
But none of them cared, they just stared at each other, waiting for the opposite to do the next move.  
Collet still had her hand over her Crystal, shivering very faintly but finally she took a deep breath  
and stepped towards them.

She didn't dare to touch either of them, so she decided to lift her hand in the air  
and traced some letters.  
Both were waiting to see a word that showed that they had done a grave mistake  
in letting her hear what they said.  
But she merely wrote 'To the Tower in the Night'.

Both read it, still absolutely silent until Collet finally nodded slightly and  
hurried off back to where she had come from.  
Lloyd's head slowly turned towards his father.  
Words could not come out of him, but both were wondering the same thing.

What now?

It took them some time, but over the first shock they calmed down  
and tried to think what had happened and how it would affect the next steps.

"Father," Lloyd said. "do you think she might warn the others?"

"I honestly don't know .." the Seraphim sighed and scartched his chin.

"She doesn't seem to plan so. Or else they had already confronted us."

They discussed further and further, will the Chosen cause trouble when they are  
on their way to the Tower of Salvation?  
Would she go along at all?

* * *

With a slight feeling of fear, Lloyd opened the door to the room they  
rented for the night.  
Night had started a long while ago and he had to get Collet,  
who had said herself that they would leave for the Tower at that time.  
But she wasn't there.  
He looked around the room, sharpening his senses to notice  
any hint of movement aside from the sleeping bodies.  
The windows were shut, so she couldn't have tried to escape that way.  
Lloyd sighed and left the room and saw Kratos at the lower level of the Inn.

"She's not here." he said, startling his father a bit.

"Are you sure?"

"Not in the room." Lloyd descended the steps slowly. ".. Do you think she  
might be hiding in one of the other rooms?"

They weren't sure, so they checked.  
Most of the rooms were empty - the Inn didn't get customers very often - and  
the ones that were occupied they were able to slip in and out in seconds without being noticed..  
Collet wasn't in the Inn at all, so they hurried out and looked for her at the graveyard,  
at the back of the Inn.

They finally found her at the top of the mountain.  
She had her back to them, looking quietly at the three dragons in front of her  
that were to bring them to the Tower.

"Chosen .."

Collet turned her head towards them, no sign of being startled was in her face.  
So she must've noticed them being there.  
She didn't do anything that might show that she had completely  
understood of what they had said earlier on.  
All she did was nod her head towards the dragons and with such an obvious  
order, Lloyd and Kratos got onto two of the dragons after Lloyd assisting  
Collet on the last one.

With a sudden flap of their wings, the dragons rose up into the black sky  
and turned towards the south, heading for the Tower of Salvation.  
The ride was completely silent, the flapping of the wings seemed almost unnaturally loud.  
And they were all relieved when the dragons decended, their sharp long claws  
dug themselves into the crunchy earth.  
As fast as the ride had been, the dragons left again, leaving the tree people at the Tower.  
Collet stared at it.  
There was a wide cliff from where they stood to the Tower in the middle,  
the Tower itself stood like a rock in the nothingness, like a smooth stone giant  
runes carved into it.  
The Chosen took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before stepping towards  
the cliff.

".. Chosen."

She stopped and turned around to the two men, more specifically at Lloyd,  
who had called her.  
Lloyd looked a bit uncomfortable, but he still stood rigid and yet in a comfortable way,  
his eyes straight looking at her.

".. About" he finally said, trying to keep his voice from showing any trace of discomfort. "about  
what you have heard .. earlier on .."

Collet changed her position of standing,  
putting her hands behind her back, her feet scratching the floor and her hair flowed while she moved  
her head with her lips.

_It's okay. I have suspected the truth about Becoming An Angel from the second seal onwards._

Kratos and Lloyd stared at her, not knowing what to say.  
She smiled, looking serenly, like she was accepting what was coming towards her.  
And after saying that, she turned back towards the cliff,  
transparent glass stairs appeared at her feet and led up to the portal of the Tower.

"You do not want to wait for the others?" Lloyd asked though, him and Kratos catching up to  
Collet, who had already started up the stairs.

She stopped one foot on an upper stair, the other lower a bit.  
She turned and looked at them, smiling bitterly.  
Like she wanted to say, Why, they will just see me die anyway.  
Knowing that that was all she was going to say to them, they ascended the stairs  
and entered the Tower after it opened at Collet's touch.

* * *

Collet stepped carefully onto the altar and knelt down, folding her hands and praying.  
Kratos and Lloyd stood a few steps back, each with their arms crossed on each side  
of the narrow ledge out of transparent glass hovering over nothingness.

Remiel's appearance didn't take long and he looked down at Collet with a quick,  
respectful nod towards Lloyd and Kratos.

"You are at your final seal, Chosen." he said in a complimental way. "And you are ready for your trial?"

Collet kept her head low, but nodded.  
With a sign of Remiel, she slowly got up and let her arms hang to her sides, her eyes still closed,  
as well as her head still hanging low.

"Collet Brunel, Chosen of Sylvarant." Remiel's wings spread out farther and his voice boomed with  
authority. The coffins floating around in the air began to emit a glowing light,  
which seperated itself from them and filled the air with tiny lights.  
It looked like thousands of fireflies had appeared and lighted the whole night sky.

The glass clunked underneath their steps and they stopped, gasping at the scenery.  
Collet glowed with an eerie, blue light while Remiel muttered something underneath his breath.  
Kratos and Lloyd still standing as still as before were only slightly noticable through the  
thousands of small light floating around.

".. and so you give up your memories, one by one, until you are a blank slate,  
waiting for new memories to be carved into you, although your existence will be erased,  
you will gladly do so, all for the sake of the surviving race .." Remiel muttered, his voice getting louder.  
He looked down at Collet with his eyes as slits, seeing the small lights rising up from her body,  
joining the other lights.

"Collet!" Genius yelled, the first to say something. "What are you doing?"

Collet turned her head and upper body a bit, looking towards his direction,  
her eyes a blur themselves, half-closed.  
Remiel glared their way, but he didn't say anything.  
Instead, he closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

"Without your memories, you continue onwards the road of selfdestruction,  
doing this freely and by your own will. But now you must give up the last that makes you You,  
your heart, your heart that holds your most trusted and cherished memories, for those are  
useless to us and you, for you are to be erased to nothingness and will embrace  
Martel's soul to become one with your body, which you will do without hesitation .." he  
continued onwards.

"What are you talking about!?" Genius yelled.

"You're killing yourself!" Shihna snapped. "For what?"

".. It must .. be like this." Raine said and the two looked at her, Remiel's words filling the air. "Collet has to die for the sake  
of regenerating Sylvarant."

The two stared at her, shocked over what they were seeing and hearing.  
They stared back to the front where Collet had turned back towards Remiel,  
closing her eyes and standing still.

".. Collet, you can't do this!" Genius finally screamed, choking on his own words and dashed forwards.

He came a few steps closer but stopped within an instant as two swords were pointing straight into his face.  
Raine and Shihna caught up to him, staring at the blades, too.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shihna asked the two swordsmen who had unsheathed their blades.

"Don't interfere with the Ritual." Lloyd said, his eyes completely fixed onto Genius.

The boy's eyes stared at the two blade tips and slowly to a step backwards, where Raine put her arms around him  
immediately.  
Raine's gaze strayed from Lloyd to Kratos to Collet and went back to the father, glareing.  
Knowing that they would not try to interfere again, they put sheathed their swords again and turned back to the front.

".. The Chosen will give herself up to Cruxis, you are right about that, Raine." Kratos said, side-glancing at her.  
Knowing that she was curious as anything as what was happening. "Because she is needed as Martel's Vessel."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Genius asked, his voice shaking, scared that they might draw their swords again.  
"What exactly is this doing?"

"The Chosen will become Martel's new body." Lloyd answered. "Over the course of breaking the Seals,  
she loses what makes her human. Taste, Hunger, Fatigue and any other sense of feeling."

"And finally her voice." Raine finished, still glareing at the two swordsmen.

"Yes."

"Right now, the Chosen is giving up the last thing that is making her human." Kratos continued. "Her memories,  
as well as her heart."

The group gasped, staring at Collet, more and more small lights rising from her body.  
They stared as a bright, silver crystal formed light started to rise from her.

"So, she's forgetting us? Everything?" Raine asked. "She'll die."

"No, she will be reborn as Martel." the mercenary calmed her down.

She looked from him to Lloyd.  
".. You two .."

Genius shook his sister's arm and pointed forwards when the crystal formed light had  
completely seperated from Collet.  
Remiel stopped chanting, the lights from the coffins disappeared into them and  
the crystal light from Collet was the only thing left.

"Fh .." Remiel smirked and finally burst out laughing. "Finally! I will become one of the Seraphims,  
I will climb the Ranks to the highest point!"

"Do you really think a nobody like you will get higher than a Choir?" a voice suddenly asked  
and Remiel gasped when something shot through is back.

The angel gasped and swayed in the air for a bit before hitting the ground.  
Behind him was another angel, this one standing straight with his hand in front of him, like  
he had just thrown something.  
His long blonde hair hung down his back, silvery red wings on his back and wrists.

"Y .." Remiel gasped, holding his wound, and turned around a bit to stare at the angel. "Ygg .."  
He couldn't finish. His whole body tensed up and then relaxed again, lying flat on the floor.

They stared at the new angel, seeing the almost regal authority of his flowing through his body.  
Lloyd and Kratos stepped fowards and knelt down on one knee, their heads bowed.

"Yggdrasill-sama" they both said respectfully.

Yggdrasill looked down at them and nodded.  
"Lloyd, Kratos, you have both done well."

"Thank you."

Yggdrasill floated down to Collet and lifted her chin a bit with his hand.  
He studied her face, the way her eyes had darkened to a black color,  
dull and lifeless, her lips parted.  
"So you're the Chosen that matches so well .."

"Keep your hands of Collet!!" Genius snapped at him, but Yggdrasill just laughed.

"No matter what you say, she will not be able to lift a single finger." he smirked  
and then looked at Kratos and Lloyd. "These people are annoying. One of you take care of them."

Both stood up at the same time, but Lloyd was the first to draw his sword.  
Kratos saw this and took his place at Yggdrasill's side while Lloyd turned around towards them.

"So you really do belong to him." Raine glared, her staff in her hands.

Lloyd just smirked and got ready to attack.  
"Seraphim of Strength, Lloyd Aurion, at your service." he said, still smirking when he saw  
Genius take his Kendama and Shihna her Ofudas out.

Lloyd could easily dodge their attacks and always threw off Raine's or Genius' concentration,  
keeping them from casting their spells.  
Yggdrasill and Kratos watched.

"Your son is a good swordsman."

"Thank you." Kratos said. "He trained very long and hard."

Yggdrasill looked at Collet and stepped towards her.  
"I will take the Chosen with to Derris Quara now. Once you finish, catch up."

Kratos nodded and Yggdrasill extended his hand to grab Collet's.  
Genius gasped, barely dodgine an attack of Lloyd's, and slid slightly  
on the narrow path.

"Collet ..!" he yelled.

Collet twitched and a bright shine from the crystalformed light blended everyone  
for a few seconds.  
The light slowly disappeared and everything seemed to be back to normal,  
the crystalformed light was gone, but Collet was still standing like a doll  
her keycrest glinting more than before in it's black color.  
Everyone stared, wondering what might have happened, but nothing seemed to have changed.  
Lloyd saw his chance and struck Raine down first, who fell to the floor, holding her right arm,  
letting go of her staff.  
Genius was able to dodge Lloyd's next attack, but stumbled to the floor.  
Lloyd was about to knock him unconscious, when Kratos yelled.

"Lloyd, behind you!!"

The boy turned around and saw Shihna for a moment and the next, a giant green bird  
charged at him, knocking into him.  
Lloyd stumbled and then the bird used his kind of magic to create a strong blast of wind at Lloyd,  
which knocked him clean off his feet and into one of the pillars standing around, breaking it in two.

Genius helped his sister up.  
She picked her staff up and healed her wound, then looked at the other two.  
They nodded at her. It was their chance to attack Lloyd.  
They started to charge at him, holding their weapons tight.  
Collet turned at the spot and her wings burst out in their pearly pink glory.

_Feather's Warning_

The voice echoed through the tower, ringing in everyone's ears.  
Feathers seperated themselves from her wings and shot at Raine, Genius and Shihna,  
encircling them in a breeze of feathers.  
They couldn't move a muscle.  
Kratos and Yggdrasill stared, surprised, the former dashing to his son's side, who  
hadn't moved for the while and picked him up.

"Kratos, we're leaving." Yggdrasill said and reached out again to grab Collet,  
but something striked his hand and he quickly pulled it back, a deep gash on it's back.  
Several people, clad as Desians, ran forward, grabbing Raine, Genius and Shihna, who protested  
but knew they could do nothing.  
A particularely fast one dashed forward and grabbed Collet, stepping into a transportation field with her  
and disappeared.  
Slowly everyone was gone aside from the angels.

Yggdrasill smirked. "Renegades are as annoying as ever .. well, it makes hardly any difference. We'll get  
the Chosen into our hands."  
He turned and disappeared in a bright light.  
Kratos followed suit a few moments later, looking worried at his son.

* * *

**Cat:** And the next chapter.  
Look forward to a cold hearted bastard Lloyd the next chapter.  
Personally, I'm looking forward to the first kidnapping of Collet from Rodyle.  
Btw, **before **you say anything in your Review. **I** write Derris Quaran,  
because that's how a subtitle called it in Tales of Phantasia and it burned itself that way into my brain.


	5. 5: Keycrests Part 1

**Cat: **Yes, yes!  
Finally I'm PAST the Tower of Salvation!  
Oh, how wonderful! I can do the badass Lloyd I wanted to have.  
Ah, the thought of him .. I almost get horny from him.  
.. If he would change his hairstyle a bit.  
And got rid of those ugly clothes ..  
And wouldn't be together with Shihna in my head.  
Otherwise, no.

* * *

Lloyd opened his eyes slightly, seeing a richly embroidered gold and blue ceiling.  
He sat up, holding his head, feeling a thick, wet bandage around it.  
He flinched when the door slid open and Kratos came in holding a tray with several things on them.

"Finally awake again." he asked and sat down into a chair next to the bed.

Lloyd didn't say anything and let Kratos take the bloody bandage off.

"Yes, you got injured. Yes, you also lost consciousness. I don't think that you figured  
that the impact would be that hard."

"Damn Shihna." Lloyd spat, looking at the wall while Kratos rolled the old bandage up. "I should've  
focused more on her, not on Raine. .. What?"

The boy glared at his father's smirk, who's hands were busy putting some fiercely smelling liquid on a cotton ball,  
holding it together with a tweezer.

"I'm just wondering if you would've been able to attack her more furiously." Kratos said and smirking even more.

"Are you trying to imply anything?" Lloyd asked, his gaze getting colder by the second. "Because I can tell y-"

"Nevermind that now. Although, you did miss something interesting, shortly after you lost consciousness."

Lloyd's non-parted eyebrow went up.  
He was curious what had happened, but he didn't like the tone of his father's voice while saying it.  
It sounded like he was mocking him.

"The Chosen reacted."

"Without having her heart?" Lloyd asked right away.

Kratos was quite, cleaning his son's wound with the damp cotton ball,  
making sure to not leave anything with dried blood.

".. She does have her heart." he finally said, quickly putting his free hand onto his son's shoulder to  
keep him from getting up. "Not completely .. you see, when Genius called her name .. you realized  
that her heart crystal disappeared, didn't you?"

Lloyd frowned. "Are you saying that her heart got absorbed back into the Crystal? Not having her soul,  
but her heart and most precious memories back?"

"It seems like it." Kratos put the cotton ball away. "You see .. when they tried to attack you when you  
were unconscious .. she turned on the spot and used an angeltechnique to stop them from getting too close to you."

Lloyd didn't say anything, watched his father's face, the slight grin hovering  
over the sides of his lips, the slanted eyes in amusement.  
The Seraphim used an ointment on his boy's wound next.

"I did not fratornize with the Chosen." Lloyd finally burst out, glareing at his father for even thinking anything like that.

"Oh, I know you didn't." Kratos grinned a bit while he rolled the new bandage around Lloyd's head.  
"It's just that you got your old man's genes."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dome shaped base, Raine and the others were sitting in chairs,  
facing a desk behind which a half-elf, as stated by himself and Raine, sat.  
He had long blue hair which he held in a ponytail, clad in black and gold.

Raine studied him.  
"Yggdrasill is the leader of Cruxis - which is the same organization as the Desians.  
Also, the Desians' purpose is to make more Exspheres, turning them into Cruxis Crystal  
and to cause suffering for the Chosen, which will enlarge the control the Cruxis Crystal has on her."

"That's correct."

"And the Chosen's actual purpose .."

"To lose her soul, which will turn her into a lifeless being. An empty shell, awaiting a new host." the man explained.  
"She is to be Martel's new body, as .. Kratos has explained to you at the Tower."

Genius, sitting next to his sister, stirred up.  
"But why does Cruxis make all these Prophecies to get the Chosen's Bloodline to continue,  
just to sacrifice them for one person?"

"Because the manasignature has to be as close as possible. Of course, it's absolutely impossible  
to recreate someone's manasignature, it's too complex. And even if they'd manage,  
there'd be at least one part of it different from the original."

"Then why do the two worlds need to be seperated for it?" Shihna asked, looking more annoyed by the minute.  
"You said that Yggdrasill split the worlds. Why did he do it? It doesn't seem to be necessary."

The man didn't say anything.  
He studied them, getting up and slowly walked around his desk towards them.  
"Allow me ask you a question." he said and leaned his hands on the chair of Raine's, leaning close to her.  
"That boy dressed in red."

"Lloyd?"

"So it is him .." the man stood up straight again, frowning and thinking.

They stared at him, wondering what he meant by it,  
but he remained quiet, pondering in his thoughts.  
And suddenly he snapped his fingers.

"How about we make an agreement?" he asked.

"What kind of an agreement?"

"You see, I want to get my hands on Lloyd. He's an important piece to a puzzle.  
If I have him in my hands .. Help me capture Lloyd and we will help you in return."

Raine leaned fowards.  
"What kind of help would we need?"

"You want to save the Chosen's soul, don't you? Tethe'alla is researching Exspheres  
and Cruxis Crystals. They'll be able to help you in retrieving her soul back into her body.  
And in order to get to Tethe'alla, you'll need Rheairds."

"Rheairds?" Raine asked, having never heard of this device.

"A flying device. And with our system, we can send you through a dimensional transfer,  
sending you to Tethe'alla. That's how you got over here, didn't you, Shihna?"

The Summoner didn't say anything, just looked at him, knowing that he knew.  
He was the one who had introduced Exspheres in Tethe'alla and told them about  
the Chosen's purpose and the two worlds.  
They agreed on the terms and the man, who introduced himself as Yuan,  
led them to a hangar, four rheairds standing there in a row, leading down an acceleration path.

Yuan gave them the instructions on how to use the rheairds, explaining the dimensional  
transfer as well, which couldn't be used when the rheairds weren't charged or the system itself shut off.

"I still don't see why you are so intent on helping us."

"Actually, if Lloyd hadn't been the boy in red, I would've killed the Chosen by now."

Instantly, they all moved closer to Collet, taking his words as a verbal challenge.  
Yuan smirked and shook his head.

"You see, if the Chosen - who's manasignature is very close to Martel's - were to die,  
Martel wouldn't be resurrected. The chance to do so would be gone. But now I know a way  
to keep Martel from being resurrected and your dear Chosen gets to stay alive, too."

Now with hesitation, they boarded the rheairds while Yuan put in some coordinates into a machine.  
The lights along the acceleration path went on, the rheairds rumbled and with a sudden  
blast and a strong breeze they zipped down the path, disappearing into a flashing light.

* * *

The two swords strained against each other, neither of them wanting to let go.  
One of them pulled back and swung against the other again with such might, that it almost fell  
out of his hands.  
Kratos looked over to his son, the latter holding his wrist to keep grip on his sword.

"I am happy to see that you take swordsmanship as serious as ever .. but I don't quite see  
why you were so intent on training while still being injured."

Lloyd gasped for his breath, steadying his hand still.  
"I lost. I lost consciousness. Isn't that enough?" he ran a hand through his hair, getting it out of his eyes.  
"It shows that I'm weak. I never should've lost consciousness. I-"

"Didn't even use my full capacity." Kratos finished and sighed. "I noticed that, Yggdrasill-sama too."

"I have to get stronger. If I am not, Yggdrasill-sama has no use for me anymore." Lloyd said  
and charged at his father again,  
the two swords clanging against each other.

Completely out of breath, both sheathed their swords, trying to calm down again.  
Several hours had past with training and there had been injuries, but that  
was to be expected during training.  
Kratos helped Lloyd up, who had been sitting down.

"Get some rest." he told his flesh and blood.  
Lloyd sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"We both know that it is useless for angels to 'rest'."

"I said Rest. Not Sleep."

Lloyd shook his head and smirked, wandering out of the training area,  
leaving Kratos behind who frowned at his son.

* * *

"-attach themselves to the host and drain it out, until they break free and return  
to a completely isolated state again, until they find the next host." the laboratition told them. "It's  
easiest to describe them as 'Parasites'."

"I see .. And what kind of function does the Keycrest have?"

"It's like a protective film around the Exsphere. It took years for the dwarfs to  
make functioning Keycrests - beforehand, they were just able to slow the process down,  
but no matter if it took a year or ten, the host would die at the end."

They listened intently, learning the new things.  
Shihna had to leave them for Mizuho when they arrived at Meltokyo, but right now  
Zelos Wilder, the Chosen of Tethe'alla, and Presea, a girl with an Exsphere in her throat,  
were accompanying them.

"If we put a Keycrest onto Collet's Cruxis Crystal she would get her soul back?" Genius asked  
and the laboratition agreed that that might help her. "You don't have any Keycrests spare ..?"

The little glint of hope that the Empirial Research Academie would have some, died away quickly,  
so Zelos, who knew this town very well, suggested to check out the stands,  
you would always find some astonishing things there.

Sybak's marketplace was filled with several people, couples, groups, families  
and singles all tumbled about, checking out the stands, searching for this and that.  
The stands were filled with vases, glasses, plates, statues, paintings,  
some even specilized in soap shapes until they got to a stand where one would find  
a bit of everything and anything.  
A globe of Tethe'alla was next to a painting of a weeping clown, right next to it  
was a pencil with the eraser at the top missing.  
They looked and checked, searching for the little glint of golden color, anything  
that might have some kind of patterns carved into it.

Raine's eye caught something and she picked up the round circle which was hollow  
in the middle and something carved in angellanguage along the sides.  
"This is definitely a Keycrest!" she said, checking her own keycrest to see if it had  
the same color and pattern. "How much for this?"

"What? That useless pieca junk?" the man asked, tipping his head back to take a look  
at her and the Keycrest. "Hmm .. Ten-Thousand."

"You're trying to make profit out of our misery!" Genius snapped and the man  
wagged his finger at him.

"It's a cruel world we're in, kiddo. Gotta make money to survive."

Zelos, having overhead what the man said, took some long, but elegant steps towards  
the counter and slapped his hand on the surface.  
"I want to talk to the one responsible for this stand right away and I'll make sure  
he'll never be able to do _any_ business anymore!" he snapped.

The man looked at him.  
"And who are you for demanding that?"

"Pretty bold of you to not recognize the Chosen." Zelos leaned back, crossing his arms and smirked.

The hat jumped off of his head when the man flinched and he looked around frantically.  
"Ahaha, I'm so sorry, Chosen One! I was startled by your .. uh .. I-I mean .. th-the sun was in my  
eyes, I couldn't recognize you very well." he stuttered, pulling the hat back on and over his face almost.  
His eyes darted to Raine and the Keycrest. "Here, here. Just .. Just take it. No Problem at all!"

And the next second, the man disappeared out of sight.  
Raine sighed relieved.  
"Thank you for the help, Zelos."

"Ah, it was a pleasure for me, Princess." the Chosen One grinned and put an arm around  
the soulless Collet. "I did it for you and for the little Anglepie here. When she has her soul back,  
I have to make sure she'll thank me appropriately."

Raine wasn't listening though, but continued to study the Keycrest.  
"It doesn't have any kind of hooks .." she muttered, knowing that it was the  
usual way for Keycrests to be attached. "Although there is a hole here .."

"Make it into a necklace." Presea told them, standing quietly around, although she was looking uncomfortable.

"Th-that's a really good idea, Presea!" Genius stuttered, nodding vigorously.

With a little time, the Keycrest was held up by a necklace out of red silk and Raine  
attached it to Collet's Cruxis Crystal, noticing that the edges were slightly soft, so she could form it  
a bit around the Crystal.  
"Collet?"

The girl stood there, her eyes black and misty as before.  
A few seconds passed and, when nothing happened, they sighed.

"Maybe a Keycrest isn't strong enough when the Cruxis Crystal's process is so far already?"

"That may be .. are there any dwarfs in Tethe'alla?" Raine asked, knowing only of one dwarf.

"Not that I know of. Do you know one, Presea-chan?" Zelos asked, smiling at the little girl.

".. .. I do not." she answered, avoiding their eyes.

"Then we might not have any other choice than to go back to Sylvarant. We have to  
find the dwarf around Iselia and ask him, if he has a cure for Collet."

"Ah, hang on a second, Princess!" the redheaded Chosen interfered. "As much as I want to  
see Collet-chan smile, my orders are to make sure you don't go back to Sylvarant!"

"So, you don't want to help us?"

Metall clinged when soldiers surrounded them, holding their spears and swords close to them.  
"Chosen, Zelos Wilder, you and your comrades are working against the orders of the 18th King of  
Tethe'alla and are hereby immediately known as Criminals." one of the soldiers snapped from  
underneath his armor.

"Hm, so the King'll try to get rid of me? Ph, I saw that coming for a long time .." the redhead muttered  
to himself while his hands were tied behind his back, the others soldiers tying the other ones up.  
One Soldier tried to grab Collet's arms, but she gripped her Chakrams and defended herself.

"Let me go!"  
Everyone gasped at the sound of the voice and turned to the blonde girl,  
who frowned at the soldier.  
The other soldiers started to charge at the girl who dodged the best she could,  
but finally got caught in a corner.  
The leader of the soldiers muttered something to one of them, who got ready to  
charge at Collet.

_Sacred Splash_

The soldiers got hit by several streams of water, finally thrown to the ground.  
All looked up to the wall, seeing the silhouette of a woman with gills disappearing,  
Shihna holding a blue card up.

The group swarmed about Collet, hugging her, ruffling her hair, happy to see  
that she had her soul back.  
"Hmm, Angelpie really is much sweeter when smiling!" Zelos sighed happily.  
"Ah, you're um .. Zelos, right?" Collet asked and smiled when Zelos nodded.  
"You know, Collet-chan, we're both Chosen - we have to stick together."  
Collet nodded.  
The excitement slowly tuned down and they thought of what to do next.  
Their goal in Tethe'alla had been to get Collet's soul back and now that they had succeeded ..  
"I just thought of .." Raine mumbled. "What if Presea can be helped the same way? Maybe  
the charm on the Keycrest has to be stronger, though."  
Mumbles and grumbles went through the discussion, finally agreeing that a Keycrest  
would be the best way to help Presea.  
"Although we don't know of any dwarf in Tethe'alla-"  
".. Altessta .."  
They turned to Presea, who had muttered the name.

* * *

"Rodyle's trying to recreate the Mana Cannon?" Lloyd asked, slightly surprised at what he was hearing.

"Apparently, he succeeded very well, he doesn't seem to mind having lost Kvar's help."

The brunette looked intently at his father and then ran a hand through his hair.  
"What exactly does it help? What does he want to use it on?" Lloyd wondered. "The Cannon was  
only used in the Holy War when wiping out as many soldiers as they possibly could."

"You did your homework alright." Kratos smirked at his son's annoyed expression with amusement. "Yggdrasill-sama  
hasn't given any order to kill him yet. Only a matter of time, I assume. But he hasn't given any order  
to bring the Chosen back, either."

Lloyd remained quiet, thinking of the Chosen.  
He was surprised to learn that she had gotten her Heart and precious memories back just because  
her close friend said it.  
Interessting thought, actually.  
That a mere mutter would have such an effect on someone.

"Lloyd?"  
The boy pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at his father.

"Rodyle's on the move. Keep an eye on him, alright?" Kratos asked his son.

* * *

"Presea? Are you coming with us?" the man with the long blue hair asked.  
His chest was as broad as his hips were slim and his hands were tied with shackles.  
He had stopped them in the forest, asking for a talk with Presea - denied, but they asked him to join them  
in exchange of promising him an opportunity to talk with her at some point.

Upon arrival in Ozette, though, Presea had taken a sharp breath and ran away;  
following her brought them to her house, where they were greeted by a foul smell that burned the inside  
of their noses.  
She had busied herself at the table, speaking in low whispers to someone in a bed. When Raine,  
curious no doubt, looked at the person in the bed, she discovered that it was a decomposed corpse,  
already reduced to mostly bones.

Presea looked at them with her obsidian colored eyes and shook her head.  
"I have to take care of my Papa."

"Very well. We'll go ahead." Raine said and approached the door but Zelos rushed ahead of her.

"Wait, Princess, you want to let Presea stay here? HERE? In this death place?"

"She won't come by her own free will and forcing her will only make things worse." she told him and pushed him aside.  
"We'll just talk to Altessta without her, hoping that he has anything to help us help her."

They found a house in a mountain area slightly to the south of Ozette and entered, since the door was unlocked.  
A woman with long pale green hair tied in a braid noticed them and bowed.  
"Welcome. What has brought you here?" she asked in a slow voice.

"Excuse us, we are looking for a dwarf named Altessta."

"You wish to see Master Altessta." she bowed again and extended a hand to her side. "Please, follow me."

She led them down some steps into a working area, where an old man was standing.  
He was wearing white robes with gold and green patterns on them, his long beard tucked into the belt.  
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"We have discovered that a strong Keycrest reduces the speed of any Parasitism happening through an Exsphere,  
even from a Cruxis Crystal." Raine explained carefully. "And we were wondering if it might help Prese-"

"Leave!!"

They flinched at the sudden yell of the dwarf, his eyes strongly fixed onto the wooden table in front of him.  
"Leave, now! I don't want to have anything to do with that girl anymore! I will not make a Keycrest!"

Genius stepped forward, almost stomping his feet on the sandy ground.  
"You grump! It won't take you long to make a Keycrest - All she needs is a working keycrest to get her  
away from her current state! Do you really want her to die!?"

Altessta huffed and turned completely away, the woman from before hushed them slowly away to the door again.  
"Please excuse the Master. He feels guilt over what he did to Presea."

"You saying it was Altessta who gave her that cursed stone?" Genius gasped.

"Yes. It was an order." the woman nodded. "He would like to help her, but he thinks that it is better to not  
return her to normal. It will only hurt her."

"But if she's not helped now she'll die!"

".. You should get her a keycrest, then. Go to the Mine-"

"Tabatha! Throw them out already!!"

"Forgive me, Master." Tabatha bowed in his direction, then turned around again. "I will try to persuade him to help her,  
please go ahead and get the Inhibitor Ore."

Outside they sighed.  
It hadn't gone as they planned to.  
"Tabatha must've meant the Toize Valley Mine, located to the far south." the man, who had introduced himself  
as Regal, told them.

"To the south? .. y-you mean we'd have to cross the sea?" Raine mumbled, looking rather pale.

"How are we going to get there?" Genius asked. "We can't swim there."

"The Imperial Research Institute could give us an EC." Zelos suggested, but sighed dramatically. "But, sadly, we are  
seen as criminals. I doubt they'll let us march in and get one of the most modern technologies without any trouble."

"Zelos, you're giving me an idea - we can ask my friends in Meltokyo for one." Shihna mentioned.  
She told them about an Elemental Reasearch Academy in Meltokyo where Corrine had been born  
and with a quick discussion they decided that that was the best place to go next.

They stopped by at Presea's house, because they wanted her with them to get her a Keycrest attached  
as soon as possible, but she wasn't in, so they strolled through the city looking for her.  
Whenever they stopped a passanger, asking if they had seen Presea they turned mean, insulted them  
or ignored them after shooting disgusted looks at them.

Finally, a small pebble hit Collet's backhead and she stopped, turning around.  
A man in his twenties had thrown it, several more of them in one hand.  
"Why did you throw that at me?" Collet asked, the rest having stopped to listen, too.

"Leave and take that brute with you!" he yelled, throwing more pebbles at them. "It's your fault for bringing her  
back here - she'll cause more trouble!"

"Wait, what do you mean? Who shall cause trouble?"

"Take her away again!! We don't want her!!" he yelled again and ran off,  
most of the villagers glaring at them with the same hateful eyes.

Collet looked around, confused about their looks.  
"Nevermind them, Collet." Raine said, putting a hand on her should and they kept on looking

until Collet grabbed her own shoulder hard and fell to her knees.

"Collet?" Raine knelt down beside her, seeing her painful expression and placed a hand on her forehead. "She has fever!  
We have to get her to a doctor!"

"Let me through to her .."

They turned and saw Presea standing behind them and she passed them slowly, bending down to Collet.  
"Presea ..?"  
Presea unhooked the small knife from her belt and knocked the hilt into Collet's stomach, making the blonde  
fall back, stunned.  
Before the others could react they had to doge a swing of Presea's axe.

"Wonderful, Presea, wonderful. Good job." an old man wearing a broad cloak cackled behind her. "I will be taking the Chosen now."  
Two purple dragons descended onto the village. The old man got onto one of them,  
the other picking a semi-conscious Collet up into it's claws.

".. Corrine!"  
The little foxy creature dashed ahead and bit Presea's ankle. The sudden surprise caught her off guard and she fell,  
the dragons already rising back into the sky.  
"I am the most gruesome of the Grand Cardinals - Rodyle!" the man cackled and flew off into the eastern sky.  
They stared stunned when they heard fast, almost running footsteps behind them.

"COLLET!!"  
A silver glint of a sword passed close by Raine's face and into the direction of the dragons,  
about to penetrate it's flesh - but before the sword was close enough it seemed to knock into something  
and fell to the ground.  
The footsteps stopped and the group turned around slowly, wondering who had thrown the weapon.

Lloyd was standing there, glareing into the eastern sky where Collet had disappeared to.

* * *

**Cat:** SORRY that it took forever and ever to get this chapter up. I'm on Writer's Block,  
I'm bored to tears with life, my digestions is causing me the feel and bloodyness of a freshly "deflowered"  
backside, nobody's giving a shit about my relationship and I really need to catch up an amount of  
sleep where I DON'T feel like falling asleep all day long.  
Man that was long.  
Anyway, the story-line changes here since I got the kidnapping before the Keycrest, but it works out.  
Trust me .. or rather not, I have a tendency to lie .. only about homework .. or when I've lost  
all my patience for the week at a doc's office and it takes forever to get taken.


	6. 6: Keycrests Part 2

**Cat:** Aaaand .. I'm stuck again!  
Man I wish I could turn my brain off once in a while - I ALWAYS have something going on in my head.  
Even if I don't think of anything there is SOME music playing in the background.  
Like those mammo-graphons .. whatever, the old LP players you see in old movies with the  
horn?  
Yeah it sounds like that ..

Geta - japanese shoes which are made out of wood. Long stelts are at the heel and the toes

* * *

"You know where he's keeping Collet!?" Genius asked very surprised, watching Lloyd pick up his  
sword.

"Of course - it's hard to recognize," he said and pointed the tip of the blade towards the sky. "but you can  
see a small floating island in the east."

Raine mustered him, frowning and remained quiet like the rest of them.  
Finally, after Lloyd sheathed his sword, she stepped forwards.  
"If you know where his hide-out is and that Collet is there .. why aren't you there? He is a Grand Cardinal,  
a part of Cruxis."

Lloyd smirked. "Sadly, Rodyle has chosen to start ignoring our orders. He does not wish for the Chosen  
to become Martel's vessel anymore."

"How pitiful .. If he opposes your plans, why not follow him right now? Re-capture Collet from him and bring  
her to Cruxis?" she asked, the others' gasp showing that they hadn't thought of that yet.

Lloyd looked at them with his black-brown eyes for a long time  
until he grinned at them.  
"I like to see you squirm." he answered. "You are nothing but worms trying to escape from this foreordained  
game of fate. One way or another the Chosen _will_ become the vessel of Martel - the harder you fight  
the more amusing it is to me."

They stared at him in silence, surprised of how he seemed to have a sadistic pleasure in seeing them  
putting up a - in his eyes - futile fight.  
Raine's eyes, though, were fixed to the eastern sky, muttering to herself.  
"No way to around it - we'll need rheairds to reach that place. And the ones we were given  
to come here have broken down on the Fooji .."  
"Ask Mizuho to locate some for you." Lloyd said, ripping the half-elven teacher from her thoughts. "They're  
supposed to have shinobi scattered all around Tethe'alla - their Information System is said to be superb."

Shihna, who was the only person of them who knew where Mizuho was located, shook her head,  
making her ponytail dance around.  
"It's against the Rules to bring outsiders into Mizuho - no matter how grave the situation!"  
"Instead you will abandon any chance of helping the Chosen, therefore killing her after all." the seraphim  
grinned and shrugged his shoulders casually. "You will have fullfiled your primary duty."  
She flinched at his words and bit her lip, seemingly trying to keep from saying something rude to him.  
".. Very well! I will ask Taiga to help us - but you can't enter the Village until you are permitted to, if at all."

* * *

They were waiting in front of the wooden gates of Mizuho, safely tucked into the Gaoracchia Forest,  
hoping that Shihna would return soon with good news.  
Zelos looked over to Lloyd, who was leaning against the gates with crossed arms.  
"I don't quite understand what made you join us."

"Rest assured, Tethe'allan Chosen, this is purely temporary." he smirked. "I was bored and since I was  
already told to keep an eye out for Rodyle, why not join you for a while? I will have the pleasure of  
being Rodyle's babysitter as well as see to it that the Chosen is remained unharmed."

Zelos seemed to want to reply something to that, but Shihna was approaching them,  
following an elderly man with jetblack hair that had gray lines in it, his Kimono three-layered in  
different colors.  
"Shihna has told me all about you and your goal." he said and bowed slightly. "Follow me, please."  
He went ahead as they followed, entering the biggest house in the village.

They sat around a big round wooden table on the floor, Genius fidgeting just very lightly, being nervous  
about sitting next to Lloyd.  
"I am Taiga, Igaguri's substitute." the man from before introduced himself. "Sadly Igaguri is in a coma  
right now - now, you came here to rescue the Sylvarant's Chosen's soul. And you have succeeded."  
His eyes rested on them all for a moment.  
"What is your plan now? Shihna has told me that the Chosen of Sylvarant was taken by force from you."

Raine nodded.  
"And we know where she is, but to get their we will need rheairds or any other device that will let us fly.  
When coming to Tethe'alla via Dimensional Transfer we used rheairds, sadly, due to the lack of Mana  
in this world they crashed onto the Fooji Mountain and are beyond repair." she explained.  
Her knowledge about devices from magi-technology was great and  
an inspection had brought her that result.

"And you wish to use our Information System to locate rheairds."  
Raine nodded again.  
".. while we will help you to find some rheairds, there is one thing, though .." he hesitated and finally sighed. "Shihna,"  
he turned around and looked her straight in the eyes. "without a Mana supply they will crash again.  
There is no way around it this time. In order to supply enough Mana for them you will have to form a pact with Volt."

Everyone looked at the shinobi as she got up rather fast, her fists clenched.  
"Vice-Chief .." she started, but lost her voice and ran out.  
The silence that remained in the room was eery, full of tension and uncomfortable.

Without a word, Lloyd got up and left the room and house, putting on his boots again.  
"I was sure that she wouldn't tell you .." Taiga sighed heavily. "But I think it would be good for you to know ..  
Twelve years ago an entourage brought Shihna to the Temple of Lightning for her to form a pact with Volt.  
I myself was not present at that time, but something must've gone wrong .. Volt became furious, he left  
his temple and appeared above this village .. killing and destroying about half of the villagers and their homes.  
Igaguri was trying to protect Shihna during Volt's rampage and got hit by lightning .. since then he's been in a coma."

Taiga sighed deeply again.  
"That must be a reason why she is so opposed to this idea. She may be even against any kind of pact with a summon spirit."

"I don't think so, Taiga." Genius leaned forward, looking much more confident than before. "While we were in Sybak,  
Soldiers attacked Collet - she was saved by a very powerful waterspell."

"Yes and there was a form of a woman with gills behind her for a moment before she joined us." Raine agreed. "I'm quite sure  
that that was the Spirit of Water, Undine."

Lloyd's steps led him behind the mainhouse of the village and a way into the forest,  
finally seeing Shihna sitting on the floor, Corrine at her feet.  
"It's okay, Shihna. If something happens .. Corrine will protect you!"  
The shinobi smiled a bit and tapped Corrine's nose gently with a finger. "Thanks."  
When hearing the approaching steps she got up quickly and was in the middle of pulling one of her  
cards out of her Obi.

"What do you want, Lloyd?" she asked grimly.  
"Merely try to fool with your head."  
Shihna frowned and became confused when Lloyd loosened his swordbelt and threw his weapon onto the ground in front of her.  
He came closer, but still kept a slight distance between them.  
"Taiga told you, didn't he?" she snapped after overcoming the slight surprise.  
"No. Yggdrasill-sama noticed Volt's activity twelve years ago - he told us."  
Shihna glared at him and turned away in disgust. "So? What do you want? Tell me that it's not my fault?"  
"Oh, of course not."  
The summoner frowned at his sudden change of matter - his lips stretched into a grin,  
like he was amusing himself by a very funny thought.

"It is your fault that Volt got into a rage. If you hadn't been sent to form a pact .." he left the sentence unfinished,  
but Shihna became pale.  
"I-if that is all you wanted to tell me, then leave." she finally snapped and turned away from him. "I am not going to try  
to form another pact with him .. I don't want to be responsible for more deaths .."  
Lloyd studied her backside, the faint quiver in her voice.

"You're strong."  
Surprised, Shihna turned around, noticing how his manner changed.  
His voice became deeper than before, yet it held some kind of warmth in it - and when he stepped closer to her,  
he seemed taller to her, since she had to lift her head to see into his face.  
"You do not wish to show any tears to anyone - you refuse to lift your mask and let go." he said and he almost smiled,  
it still held a slight smirk in it. "That's rather impressive, yet sad."  
Before Shihna could respond anything to that, Lloyd turned around and started to walk away.

"Shihna - no one is forcing you to form the pact. You are the one to choose." his back remained towards her. "But you do need  
Volt's power to save the Chosen of Sylvarant. Your friends - they want you to overcome this shadow, help them save their friend."  
He looked over his shoulder a bit, grinning.  
"We will go to the Toize Valley Mine to get a Keycrest for the young maiden - until we have done that, I will wait.  
If by then you have not chosen, I will leave you and rescue the Chosen from Rodyle alone - and take her to Cruxis."  
Then he left, leaving Shihna behind with her confused thoughts.

* * *

The inside of the mine was cold and sandy, several machines were active, moving platforms from one side to the other  
or from top to bottom.

After leaving Mizuho, they headed through the Gaoracchia Forest and crossed the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge to get to Mizuho.  
They had to ask Shihna's aquaintances at the Elemental Research Academy if they could get an EC - a large, sturdy ship,  
usually used for Cargo-Transport - so they could cross the sea if necessary.  
They could, but it took some time, since it was a request made by half-elven scholars - although they were in a highly  
respected place as the Research Academy, they were nonetheless half-elves.

After a longer journey on the EC to the Valley Mine, they passed Volt's temple in the distance.  
"I believe that it might be tough to get Volt to listen .." Raine mumbled while she steered the EC.  
"What do you mean by that?" Regal asked who was keeping an eye on Presea, who had quietly followed them around  
after her bite from Corrine got taken care of.  
".. Volt speaks in ancient tongues .." she mumbled. "I studied it, but not perfectly - I might only be able to translate  
some of his words .."  
The conversations had completely ceased after that until they had reached the mine inside.

Regal walked ahead, leading the way deeper and deeper into the mine, warning them if there was a still active trap ahead.  
Zelos studied Regal as he lead them safely through narrow passages, mumbling to himself words which made him wonder,  
if he knew Regal from somewhere.  
The prisoner finally stopped in front of a dead-end passage, there was a large space taken from the left wall, making it  
a good area to stock things before transporting them out.  
Several large crates where standing there, more or less dusty, depending on their age.  
"In one of them should be some Inhibitor Ore - I suggest in the older ones, since it has been some time for this specific  
kind of ore being dug up .." he muttered and they all started opening dusty crates, looking for the golden glittered Ore.  
Finally, Genius found some and held it up.  
"It's in it's raw form, though - I don't know if it'll work." he said.  
Raine studied it, turning it around and feeling it's barely kneadable form.  
"It might be able to work - merely as a temporary cure. We will need to get her a real Keycrest sooner or later." she said  
and looked at her own Keycrest, trying to etch the same pattern into the raw ore.

A while later, Raine kneeled down to Presea and started to form the Ore around her Exsphere, hoping that it will work.  
They stared as Presea slowly blinked and looked around, as if she were surprised to be there.  
"Where am I .." she stopped and looked at Raine, the first person she saw. "What about my Papa?"  
Neither of them answered, until it finally seemed to dawn to Presea, who hid her face in her hands are started to slide to the ground.  
A cry of pain, sadness and yet a slight amount of relief, came out of her mouth - the echo made in the hollow passage made  
it sound worse.

Close to the entrance of the mine, they stopped for a few moments.  
"Have you calmed down a bit?" Raine asked Presea in a voice that made it sound like she was already a mother, not a mere sister.  
"Yes .. Thank you." she said. Her voice was softer than before and they noticed a very slight lisp when she said an S. "May I ..  
May I please journey along with you - it's .. my fault that Collet-san was taken."  
"So you remember everything?" Genius asked.  
Presea shook her head. "No, but most of it."  
They were glad that Presea wanted to accompany them and told her so,  
except for Lloyd who kept his gaze on Shihna.  
"Presea," Regal stooped down a bit to see eye-to-eye with her. "do you have any family?"  
".. No. Papa is dead now .. and Mama died when I was a child."  
"What about siblings?" he asked, his voice having a slight tremour of eagerness in it.  
Presea frowned for a moment.  
"A younger sister - she left to work for a Nobleman at his company. Aside from a few letters, that's the last I heard of her."  
Regal seemed to get a certain excitement and wanted to continue to talk, but refrained from doing so for now.

"As heartwarming as all of this might be - and a joyful event - I do want to remind you of the deal we had, Shihna." Lloyd said  
and all eyes went to him. "I do hope you did not forget."  
"Of course I didn't." she said slightly annoyed. "We will go to Volt right now - if you wish to accompany us, feel free to do so."  
Lloyd smirked.

* * *

Standing in front of Volt's temple made Shihna nervous, however.  
She stared at the high tower which looked like a lightning rod, having the same queasy feeling in her stomach  
as she did twelve years ago.  
"Are you ready?" Raine asked the summoner and, when she nodded, pushed the portal door open.  
The inside was dark, small lamps were fastened to the edge of the walking paths - thunder kept growling somewhere  
and now and then a bolt crashed into the ground.  
They carefully made their way ahead, getting closer to the altar.

"Who's there?" a voice suddenly called out and they noticed the figure coming their way.

It must've been the priestess of the temple.  
She had dark tanned skin and platinblonde hair pulled up into a tight Ponytail - some strands escaping.  
She wore white leggings with geta, a sleeve-less jacket similiar to Shihna's except that it was a dark blue color  
and she had tied a long cloth around her waist which made it appear as if she was wearing a long, side-slitted skirt.  
She stepped closer to them, finally stopping in front of Shihna.  
".. You were here - twelve years ago." she mumbled, holding Shihna's face in her hands. "You are here to try for  
another pact?"  
Shihna nodded and the priestess let her go, slowly walking a large circle around them.  
She suddenly stopped in front of Lloyd and smiled a bit.  
"I see you have met my sister - how is she?"  
Lloyd replied her gaze and noticed how pale her yellow eyes were.  
"Ifurita is fine."  
"I'm sure the meeting with you has upset her." she turned to everyone and bowed slightly. "Pardon my late introduction.  
I am Sara, the priestess who has devoted her life to serving Volt - and sister of Ifurita, the Priestess of Ifrit."  
They were all surprised at this revelation, but they slowly saw the similiarities.  
The eyes were the same yellow cat-like color, even if Sara's were pale and their skin was the same cinnamon color.  
"What I don't understand is that, if you were here when Shihna tried to form the pact twelve years ago, why .. didn't it work?" Genius asked.  
"I wasn't familiar with Volt's language at that time - I was unable to translate his words and during the attack one of his bolts  
hit my eyes and blinded me." she explained and bowed again. "But now I know his language perfectly and will be of assistance."  
She led them the rest of the way to the altar and told Shihna to stand ahead.

The altar glowed and a bolt striked the middle, blinding everyone for a moment and Volt appeared.  
His eyes were staring at them all while his purple body crackled and twitched with continous electricity flowing through him.  
Shihna took a deep breath.  
"My name is Shihna and I wish to form a pact with the elemental spirit of Lightning, Volt." she said, staring at him, sounding  
braver than she was.  
Sara was looking up at him calmly. ".. I have already formed a pact with Mithos once. Leave."  
Shihna flinched, remembering the pact she had formed with Undine after some thoughts, the water spirit had said the same.  
"I am Shihna - Volt, nullify your pact with Mithos and form a pact with me."  
"My pact with Mithos is broken - I decline any other pact."  
"Why?"  
Volt seemed to say a lot and it took Sara a while to answer.  
"I do not have any faith in humans anymore - you betray and kill without a second thought. I will not help you in any way like that.  
I will watch you while you destroy yourself."  
Shihna glared at Volt and took her weapon out. "No, we need your power to help our friend!"

Volt crackled and a focused, strong bolt went straight at Shihna - only to be stopped by Corrine, who threw himself in front of her  
in time to get penetrated by the bolt.  
He fell to the ground and twitched.  
Shihna was stiff with horror until she finally looked down at the small furball.  
"C- .. orrine .."  
She didn't notice the second bolt going after her or how Lloyd dashed in front of her and deflected it with the hilt of his sword.  
"Shihna, pull yourself together!" he snapped at her.  
A bolt was striking the ground far away, then closer.  
One of them was heading for Sara, so Lloyd grabbed her in a jump and landed a safe way away.  
"You ..!" Sara gasped when she studied his face longer,  
Lloyd didn't hear her and looked back at Shihna.  
"Subdue Volt by force if you have to - You want to save Sylvarant's Chosen, do you not?"  
Shihna flinched and tightened the grip on her cards, glaring at Volt.  
"Volt! Give me your power!" she yelled and charged at him.

* * *

Volt floated above his altar, looking down at them.  
"Volt wants you to speak the vow upon which the pact shall be valid." Sara explained, frowning whenever she looked at Lloyd.  
Shihna stared at the golden bell she held in her hand and sighed.  
"I promise to find a way to help Sylvarant as well as Tethe'alla." she said and Volt disappeared, leaving behind  
a ring with a Sardonyx embedded.  
There was a great sigh of relief when out of a poof of smoke a shinobi appeared.  
"Orochi!"  
They crowded around him, wondering why he was here.  
"Congratulations on forming a pact with Volt." he said and smiled underneath his mask. "I've come to tell you  
where you can get some rheairds."  
And he told them about a Renegade Base close by and how to get there, since it was hidden by several rocks  
around Flanoir.  
"But the Renegades .." Raine started and stopped, laying a finger over her lips, immediately going into deep thoughts.  
"What is it, Raine?" Regal asked calmly.  
".. It's nothing. Let's go."

Raine was absolutely quiet during the sea voyage to the Base.  
The rocks were of different height and close together, it was difficult to manoeuver the EC through the narrow gaps,  
but they finally managed to get close to the shore and got out where Orochi was standing next to a Renegade.  
At least it looked like a Renegade.  
He explained how they had some of their people in the lines of Renegades to keep an eye on Sylvarant.  
"Please, follow me." the renegade-dressed one said. "I will bring you to the hangar."  
They followed his lead through several rooms.  
"Where is Zelos-kun?" Presea asked. "He's missing."  
They looked around for him and saw him running towards them, as if he were catching up.  
"Ah, sorry, I got lost for a moment." he apologized and laughed nervously.  
They continued to follow the Renegade around and got to a locked door, where he pressed several keys  
to enter a password.  
"This is the hangar, please go right inside - they should not be guarded."  
They entered the room and the door shut suddenly with a loud snap.

"I finally have you where I want, Lloyd Aurion."  
Yuan stood next to the rheairds, a satisfied grin on his lips.  
Lloyd's eyes strayed along the room slowly. The hangar's door to let the rheairds out was closed - so he couldn't  
use his wings to escape.  
The door behind them was closed and the only other thing aside from them in the room was machinery for the  
dimensional transfer.  
"I see .." he muttered and looked to Raine. "A trap to get me, very interesting."  
Raine replied his gaze with a glare. "While I admit that I thought a discussion of where we hand you to the Renegades  
and get the rheairds was on my mind. But I had no idea that Yuan would really be waiting in the hangar."  
"Of course you didn't .." Lloyd's eyes strayed to the side with a grin.  
Yuan took out his sword-axe, being ready for a battle.  
"Perhaps you wish to know why you are here?" he asked, although his voice was dripping with sarcasm.  
"Of course not - whatever the reason I don't care. Although I admit, it has been a while, Yuan."  
Yuan seemed surprised that Lloyd might know his name.  
"Your reputation preceeds you." Lloyd took out his sword. "I will fight you if you wish to get control over me - but let them  
leave with the rheairds. They work for you, after all."  
Yuan snarled and pressed a key to open the hangar portal.  
With a slight hesitation, they climed the rheairds and left, seeing Lloyd charging at Yuan suddenly.

The air blew into their faces, almost cutting them and they floated in mid-air, looking around for the floating isle  
where Rodyle was keeping Collet.  
Something suddenly passed them, something with blue-tinged wings, flying towards the east.  
"Lloyd!" Raine gasped, having recognized him. Her first thought that he might be showing them where the isle was, but her second thought ..  
"He's probably trying to get Collet, hurry!" she ordered everyone and their rheairds roared after him.  
They came to a stop and land a little way away on a clawshaped isle floating in mid-air.  
Lloyd was the first there, tucking his wings back in and looked around for Rodyle.  
"Lloyd!" Collet called upon seeing him, worried about several cuts on his face and arms as well as hands.  
She was in a red cage made out of pure mana in the middle of the isle - she gasped when she saw the rest appearing.  
"Run, it's a trap!" she screamed and put her hands over her eyes when a large dragon crash-landed in front of her.  
Rodyle laughed when he teleported in front of them.  
"Finally I have you all in my hands - I see Lloyd is here to. This is too perfect! I get rid of you, I will gain your status! Fuahaha!"  
Lloyd smirked and unsheathed his sword.  
"You do not think that Yggdrasill-sama will reward you if he hears of the Mana Cannon you have built - not to mention robbing  
the Chosen." his eyes glared even worse than before. "You're a step away from your death-sentence."  
Rodyle laughed.  
"I believe you if you survive this!" and he disappeared with a laugh.  
Everyone grabbed their weapons when the dragon charged at them.

The dragon fell from the isle, unable to fly with his torn wings and finally landed with a loud splash in the sea below.  
The isle started to shake horribly, ready to follow the dragon into the sea.  
"Guys, please, run away!" Collet begged them, still stuck in the cage. "It's .. okay this way. I've failed as a Chosen - and you all."  
Presea tightened the grip around her axe.  
"You have done nothing wrong, Collet-san." she said and, trying to keep her balance, ran towards the cage, ready to strike.  
"Presea, don't!" Lloyd yelled, but the girl had already crashed the cage with her axe.  
One of the larger splinters from the cage streaked across Presea's chest and cheek and the girl fell to the ground, unconscious.  
"Presea!" several of them ran towards her, seeing if she was alright.  
"Presea .. thank you .." Collet mumbled and then saw Lloyd. "Lloyd!"  
She flung her arms around his waist, burrying her face into his chest. "I knew you'd come .. I knew it."  
The others were trying to get a reaction from Presea, but Raine turned her head to see Lloyd's hand  
extending itself - like he was going to grab Collet and flee.  
Within a heartbeat she was on her feet, ready to attack Lloyd if he tried anything.  
But he merely lay his hand onto Collet's back and smiled a bit.  
She looked at him - and was startled.  
His face looked narrower and his chest seemed broader and more muscular than before .. and a blink later he seemed the way he was before.

The next moment, Lloyd had broken off the body contact as the ground shook harder.  
Everyone boarded a rheaird and flew off, except for Presea, who was carried by Regal in his rheaird.  
They landed some way north of Meltokyo, building up a camp right away.  
Everyone was worried about Presea, whose wounds have been healed by Raine, but remained unconscious.  
Collet's eyes kept straying to Lloyd - changing from the appearance he seemed to have on the isle back to the way she knew it.  
She forgot about it when Presea stirred and sat up, looking around.  
"Collet-san .. are you alright?" she asked first thing.  
"Mh." Collet nodded. "And I owe it to you. Thank you, Presea."  
Presea was surprised for a moment, but smiled at Collet.

Time passed and it got dark when Collet got up and stepped to Lloyd, who was a bit away, staring at the sky.  
"Lloyd, could I talk to you for a moment?" she asked and flinched just barely when he suddenly tore his gaze from above and onto her.  
He turned around and smirked.  
"I hope you do not wish for a private place to talk - remember that it is my duty to get the Chosen to Derris Quaran." he said. "And your  
companions can't say I robbed you when you freely went to a secluded place with me."  
Collet was startled by his words, but finally shook her head.  
She had wanted to ask him about the way he had looked earlier, but dismissed it as a mere illussion.  
"I wanted to thank you."  
"For what?"  
"For saving me." she smiled sweetly. "Although I knew in my heart that you'd come to rescue me, I was still scared when Rodyle took me."  
Lloyd shrugged his shoulders calmly.  
"It was not I who saved you - it was also not my intent."  
"But .. when Rodyle took me, I heard your voice." she said. "And .. you called me 'Collet' for the first time."  
Lloyd flinched, not having realized that earlier.  
"It was .."  
"I was .. really happy about it. Please continue to call me 'Collet'." she said with a slight giggle in her voice and went back to the fire.

Lloyd was nowhere to be seen when it got completely dark, the only light source was the campfire.  
The nightwatch was taken over by Shihna, seeing as they all agreed that at the very least Collet and Presea were not to do it,  
both being rather exhausted from the previous ordeal.  
Shihna was staring at the fire and finally at the little bell on the red silk string - they couldn't hold a real burial for Corrine,  
because his body faded away, probably because he was a summon spirit - one made by humans, but a spirit nonetheless.  
She felt horrible - if she hadn't been shocked stiff and had moved in time ..  
With a sigh she tied the string around her neck as a memento to Corrine,  
when a hand placed itself over her mouth, a strong arm around her arms and stomach.  
She struggled, trying to break free, but only managed to bite into one of the fingers before everything went black.

The next time Shihna opened her eyes, she was lying on something soft and noticed that someone was close to her.  
"Welcome to the worst situation ever." the voice said, which sounded familiar to her. "Being in the hands of the enemy."

* * *

**Cat:** And again it took me some time to finish this chapter. But to make up for it a rather long chapter.  
Wow, things really go awol from the storyline!  
By the way .. that damn Shihna-Lloyd Scene! It took me a LONG time to finally get an idea how to finish it.  
Argh!  
I hate that Mizuho Scene now ..  
By the way .. why do I keep putting Colloyd into this when I absolutely despise the pairing?


	7. 7: Gnome's Temple

**Cat:** Now .. I am .. at a part I absolutely love!  
Cause there's Shihna-Lloyd Scenes!  
Also, I'm thinking of writing a parody version of SP - my hon knows one scene from this chapter that might go differently.

* * *

Raine woke up with a start and looked around.  
Something had woken her up, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.  
Shihna was nowhere to be seen, but Raine wasn't too worried - perhaps Shihna wanted to be alone for a bit to mourn for Corrine.  
So, she took over Nightwatch and read a book on the side, waiting.

Several minutes passed, until she gasped, shaking the ones closest to her, waking them.  
"Guys, wake up!" she said, finally everyone more or less waking up. She slammed the book  
she had been reading onto the ground close to the fire, so the flames would illuminate the book.  
Although Shihna was missing, Raine told herself to let her be for now, telling her the news later on when she was back.  
"I think there's a way for us to divide the worlds." she told them. Everyone started, being completely awake now,  
eager to hear what she had found out. Raine pointed to a part of the page. "Here it says that the Elemental Spirits  
are divided into pairs, one of them in Sylvarant, it's partner in Tethe'alla - and that they are linked by Mana."  
They leaned over the book, looking for the paragraph she was referring to.  
"And what exactly does that mean?" Genius asked, not quite following his sister.  
"The last person to have formed a pact with the Elemental Spirits was Mithos, so part of his Mana is  
in the links, that connect the Spirits. If different Mana were to flow through them they would most likely disappear,  
cutting off the link - which transports the Mana from one world to the other, once a Regeneration is done." Raine explained.  
"So, if we form pacts with all the Spirits, the Manalinks will disappear and the worlds won't vie for the Mana anymore?" Collet asked  
and Raine nodded eagerly.  
"Speaking of pacts .." Zelos looked around, his red locks flying this and that way. "Where's Shihna?"  
Raine remained quiet, she wasn't sure where exactly Shihna was.  
But thought that she was alright.

Shihna slowly sat up, her head still feeling a bit drowsy, and she looked around, checking out her surroundings.  
The room was spacious, more long than wide. The floor was layed with a thick black carpet, the furniture, made  
from oak wood, was richly cushioned with a wine red color.  
She herself was lying on a bed, the matress was of incredible softness, the spread a color like the cushioned chairs,  
Lloyd sitting in one of them.  
He had his legs crossed, leaning back in the chair, one arm propped up to support his head, in his other was a wine goblet,  
the thin golden decorations looking like oak-leaves. His gaze was right on her.  
Just as her's was on him - his legs looked longer than ever in the white pants, a crease emphasising this even more,  
the white jacket decorated with tassels on the shoulder pads and double rows of golden buttons.  
Perhaps it was the slight smirk that was tugging at his lips that made her feel uncomfortable when she saw him.  
He set the half-filled goblet onto a small table beside the chair and got up, stepping closer to her.  
Lloyd seemed taller than before to her, more muscular, as he stopped a few paces before her.  
"You hide your surprise rather well." he said, leaning down to her.  
She glared up at him, trying to hide any intimidation he might have effected on her.  
"I cannot help but think why you brought me here." she said, her voice steady, her eyes leaving his brown ones,  
searching for a way out.  
"You are in Welgaia - a city purely inhabitated by angels. You are here to stay for some time. Why?" he smirked at her  
surprised look. "Because I am enjoying it to make it hard for the others."  
He stood upright and she looked back at him, having seen a door a short run away. "So you have brought me here  
to be a hostage. Quite hard to believe, seeing as I am in no way tied up or incapacitated." she said,  
stretching her legs to touch the floor, ready to run.  
Lloyd noticed this and grinned. "I would advise not to run away - the angels don't take kindly to others.  
And I myself will not hesitate to stop you. I do not think that I will need to incapacitate you."

"Hmpf!"  
Shihna stood up suddenly, already running towards the door when Lloyd's hand grabbed hers,  
throwing her back onto the bed, kneeling over her, keeping her, without much trouble, in place.  
Not only did he have a tight grip onto both of her wrists, but he had also interlocked one of his legs with hers,  
making her unable to move.  
She was already paralyzed by his sudden movement and could only stare into his face, seeing the slight glint in his eyes  
and the smirk tugging at his lips.  
"I cannot express in words how proud I am of you, that, after all these years, you have finally decided to show an interest  
in women, my son." Kratos said, standing the doorway, looking at the scene in front of him. "However,  
I must tell you that Yggdrasill-sama wants to speak to us right away. If you are too busy, I will go alone."  
Lloyd's head turned to the side, glancing partly over his shoulder to look at his father, but didn't move any other way.  
"It's nothing of the like." he said with a slightly husky voice and got up, throwing a red sash over his shoulder,  
tying it around his waist and left with Kratos,  
leaving Shihna behind with her confused thoughts.

The circular room was the same Kratos had entered those years ago after his wife died.  
The same flower-shaped crystal floated over a pedastal, the shadow of a woman intwined in it by ivy.  
Kratos and Lloyd kneeled down respectfully in front of the blonde angel,  
who turned to them once the door closed automatically.  
"I heard that they have managed to retrieve the Chosen from Rodyle's hands - not you, nor have you, during  
a brief chance, done anything to bring her here, Lloyd." he said, staring down at his subordinate, who kept  
his head low. "Also, they have formed a pact with the spirit of Water as well as the one of Lightning - again,  
something that you didn't try to stop."  
Lloyd nodded, muttering a "that's true".  
"And I have received news that, just recently, you chose to capture one of them and bring them here,  
not the Chosen." he smirked amused. "Personal feelings are understandable to a certain extent, however,  
you seem to have placed them before your duty."  
"Yggdrasill-sama," Lloyd stood up. "I did not capture anyone out of personal greed - I have taken her,  
because she was the one in the group who could channel the Mana Links and eventually end up  
destroying them. It was to prevent them from doing anymore harm."  
"Yet you still chose to capture her instead of the Chosen, which would've immediately resurrected Martel!"  
Yggdrasill withdrew his hand as if he were to collect energy in it to throw it at Lloyd, but Kratos  
stood up and stepped in front of his son. With a mere glance Yggdrasill knew what Kratos was thinking,  
and he lowered his hand.  
"Very well .. you are dismissed."

The two angels walked along the lone path, back to the main part of Welgaia.  
"It never really stops to amaze me how fast news reaches Yggdrasill-sama." Lloyd said, a slight sarcastic tone  
in his voice. It was almost as if he found it amusing.  
Kratos remained quiet, listening to his son.  
"I wonder why he thought capturing Shihna had anything to do with-"  
"Lloyd."  
The boy turned to look at his father and felt a hard impact on his left cheek, almost hearing the bone break inside it.  
He stumbled and hit against one of them thin pillars, staring at his father and his fist.  
"What was that for?" he raised his voice in anger.  
"You imbecile, Lloyd!" Kratos yelled at him. "All these years you have been in his service and  
still you don't understand anything! How could you have been so foolish to not have brought  
the Chosen here during any chance? Be relieved that _I_ have decided to punish you, you know  
how Yggdrasill-sama can lose his temper if it's about his goal to resurrect Martel!"  
The boy just glared at him, a hand over his injured cheek which was starting to turn from red to purple and left.  
He stormed into his chambers, seeing a fleeting purple and blue thing disappear into thin air, Shihna turning to him  
and looked confused.  
"Is it true that-What happened to you?" she asked before she could stop herself, feeling the slightest hint of  
concern for his injured face.  
Lloyd ignored her, whipping of the red sash and throwing it over the back of one of the chairs.  
"Is what true?" he finally asked.  
Shihna needed a moment to focus her thoughts on the important matter,  
not Lloyd's injury.  
"Is it true that there are Mana Links? That they connect the two worlds' mana with each other and  
that they are needed to send the mana to the other world after the Journey is finished?" she asked.  
"Most certainly, why do you ask? And how did you find out?" of course, Lloyd knew that he saw the two  
spirits she had pacts with vanish a few seconds ago.  
"Undine and Volt appeared shortly after you left and told me. Is that why you took me here?  
To keep me away from the altars to make pacts?"  
With a short whisk, Lloyd undid his jacket and donned a black shirt with a loose collar and black pants,  
taking his time before answering her question.  
"You are a clever woman." he said, stepping to the bed she was on. She had to look up more than usually  
to look into his face, seeing him remove his wingshaped keycrest. "Think about it. You will find the answer."  
He moved towards the door, turning towards her for a moment before leaving.  
"Again, I will implore you to not try to flee - the angels would recognize you right away and most likely  
attack you severly."  
Lloyd stopped by his father's chambers, who was busying himself with a book and looked up when his  
son entered. He smirked.  
"It's been a while that I saw _you_." he said in a meaningful voice. "What is the honor to permit me this audition?"  
Lloyd ignored his father's last comment.  
"I need a new keycrest. This one" he held up the wingshaped one. "has been in use for some time now. It's enchantment  
has been weakening lately. The Chosen might already have noticed and become suspiscious."

* * *

Night passed without a sign of Shihna which didn't worry them too much at that time.  
Now, however that the sun had risen, they did wonder where she had went.  
"You don't think that she left us because she couldn't take Corrine's death?" Genius wondered.  
"Most definitely not." Presea answered right away and started when Collet gave a short shriek.  
They all looked towards the blonde who was pointing to the ground.  
"Look!" she kept saying and everyone saw the drag marks that led away from the fire. Hoping that they went some way  
they followed them, but a few steps further the dragmarks became thinner and then completely disappeared.  
All of them knew right away that it meant someone had been forcefully taken away - and that someone was Shihna.  
"You know, I'm pretty sure it was Lloyd .." Raine muttered, but Genius contradicted her.  
"Why would he take Shihna? After all, it's Collet that Cruxis wants. What good will it do to take Shihna away?"  
"Maybe he mistook Shihna for little Angel here," Zelos suggested, patting a hand onto Collet's shoulder. "after all,  
it was pretty dark."  
"It might've been dark but the fire gave enough light to notice a mistake like that right away." Raine said. "I think that  
Lloyd knew about the Mana Links and took the summoner who would be able to form pacts without detours .."  
"So, we won't be able to form pacts with the Spirits?" Collet asked, worried about that but more worried about  
Shihna's whereabouts and condition.  
"No. We will." Raine got up after having looked enough at the drag marks.  
A collective gasp went through the group when they heard her words.  
"But how? Only a summoner is able to fully channel the Mana for the pacts." Genius told her.  
"Fully that can only be done by the summoner, yes, but I believe that we will be able to .." she left the sentence unfinished  
and remained quiet, despite everyone urging her to continue.  
"Come on, Gnome's Temple is close-by." she merely said and went ahead, everyone following her after a while.

It seemed like it was only a cave in the mountainchain. If, after a few steps, there hadn't been an elaborately decorated  
portalframe, they would've never guessed that they had entered the Earth Temple then and there.  
The temple was partly built underground, yet it was well lit without any use of torches or other sources of light.  
They had to climb down some steep walls, carefully, one step at a time, knowing that the altar was deep inside the temple.  
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, they got to flat ground again and saw only one path leading forwards  
to a clearing which seemed to be illuminated by natural sunlight. The altar was stalagmite formed and someone was already there.

"I was almost getting tired of waiting." Lloyd said and floated down to the ground, vanishing his wings.

Peeking out from his sleeve was a new keycrest, formed like a star.  
Instantly, some of the group edged closer to Collet, ready to protect her. Collet, however, wasn't concerned about Lloyd's  
sudden appearance, but more of the distinctive bruise on his cheek which seemed to take over the left side of his face more and more.  
"I'm not here to take the Chosen." he said, unsheathing his sword.

"Your words and actions do not match, Lloyd." Raine told him, gripping her staff tighter. "Where is Shihna? Why did you take her?"

"Hm, the summoner is currently in my chambers - and haven't you figured out yourself as to why I took her?"

Zelos dashed towards Lloyd, his own sword in hands, attacking him in a fierce matter and muttering a spell under his breath.  
Lloyd parried and dodged, the rest of the group joining the battle. Except for Collet, who remained in the back, watching with  
slightly confused expression on her face.

At one point, Zelos' and Lloyd's swords were locked together, both glareing at their opposite.  
"Don't lay a finger on Collet-chan ..!" Zelos hissed, noticing how Lloyd's eyes widened and his lips spread to a grin.  
"How amusing!" Lloyd freed his sword and cast a fast spell which exploded and sent most of them flying back. "To think your behaviour  
towards me changing like that-"

"_W_ .. _Wind Cutter_!"  
Genius' spell shot towards Lloyd who dodged it in the last second, a late slash, though, striking his upper arm and leaving a deep gash.  
Lloyd held the wound, blood flowing out of it fast. His gaze strayed towards Genius, the glare so intense that the boy froze at the  
mere sight of it. The brunette's wings shot out and, grabbing some feathers, threw them towards Genius, the feathers turning sharp  
as blades, but missed when Raine cast a barrier in the last minute to protect her brother.

Flying towards the two half-elves, Lloyd gripped his sword tightly and was ready to strike when a bright light suddenly flashed,

blinding everyone. The phenomenon didn't take very long, merely a few seconds, but when it dimmed enough for everyone to see again,

it had stopped Lloyd. He turned his head towards a point behind him.  
"Hmpf! You haven't reacted for centuries .." he growled, grabbed his injury and left suddenly.

Startled, they slowly got up and Raine healed every injury before they looked at their original goal - the altar of Gnome.  
Now, however, they saw a little alcove above the altar with a chair. No, it was a rock formation that looked like a chair.  
Sitting in the chair was a young woman with long, wavey hair which was such a dark brown color that it almost looked black,  
her eyes were shut, but they somehow knew that her eyes would be the same deep color.  
She wore a sheer, long gown with oak leaves as a wreath around her head and waist.

* * *

Back in Welgaia, Lloyd stumbled slightly from the teleporter, still gripping his sword and injury. However, he quickly tried to hide any  
pain he might be experiencing, walking briskly towards his chambers.  
Upon entering the door, he almost collided with Shihna - she had most likely just tried to escape, but failed. Lloyd quickly sheathed  
his sword and used his healthy arm to pull her back into the room.  
"I warned you about leaving." he mumbled, letting go.

"What makes you think I'll stay here quietly while the others are working so hard?" she snapped at him, but her anger seemed to  
disappear when she saw him take of his shirt and noticed the injury. "What ..?"  
Lloyd didn't answer, just stood there breathing heavily and finally sank into one of the chairs, his face distorted into a mask of pain.  
Shihna went over to his side and started treating the wound, wrapping it carefully after disinfecting it. The brunette watched her quietly,  
not breaking the silence until she was almost done.  
"Don't think that you can buy your freedom by acting concerned." he told her finally.  
"I'm not doing that." she retorted, securing the bandage and started when Lloyd suddenly pulled his arm away, gripping his wrist with  
the other. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing .." he muttered, his grip tightening that his knuckles turned white and the muscles in his arm twitching furiously.  
Worried, Shihna watched him flinch every now and then, knowing that she had seen it before.  
"You're having those aftereffects again, aren't you?" she asked in a manner which showed that she already knew the answer.  
"Heh .. I shouldn't have lost my temper." Lloyd said and got up, trying to ignore any more 'attacks'.

Gnome studied the group in front of him.  
"So you want a pact with me, but you have no summoner." he put it bluntly. "Without a summoner, I can't really do anything."  
"That's why I'd like to suggest a probationery contract." Raine explained. "While we won't be able to use your entire power,  
the probationary contract allows us to use your abilites like a summoner. Although it won't be quite as strong."  
Gnome and the others listened, wondering if it would really work.  
"Fine. We can try it - though it'll be a bother to form the full pact with the summoner later on. And don't forget, the probationary  
contract will be nullified once I agree to a full one."  
"I'm quite aware of that." Raine answered. "I, Raine Sage, wish to form a probationary contract with the earth spirit, Gnome."  
Gnome sighed deeply. "What a bother with the old traditions .."  
A flash of light appeared and a ruby ring floated towards Raine, who took it.  
"The earth spirit Gnome grants his powers to his temporary partner, Raine Sage, allowing her to summon him when needed."  
Another flash and Gnome disappeared, leaving the altar looking forlorn again.

"Sis, are you sure that the probationary contracts will stop the mana links between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla?" Genius asked. "I mean,  
the probationary contracts won't influence or use enough of our mana to change the links' flow."  
"I'm not a hundred percent sure myself, but it's better than doing nothing." Raine admitted, joining them again. "If the contracts won't  
work we will have to get Shihna back immediately."  
"Why not rescue Shihna right away?" Zelos asked. "We could form the permanent pacts right away and that would insure the links' destruction."  
"We don't know where Lloyd took her to. And as long as we have no clues, we might as well try anything else." she answered and saw concerned  
faces looking at her. She knew their next question. "I'm not too worried about her safety right now. Lloyd might've taken her to hold us up for  
a while. If he had wanted to stop the pacts, he would've just killed her. I believe that he won't harm her .. yet."

They were quiet for a while about the news. Shihna might be safe now, but what if Lloyd decided to kill her?  
"What do we do now?" Collet asked, breaking the silence. "We don't know where the tethe'allan spirits are."  
"I've heard about Celsius." Regal told them. "Apparently, Celsius is located close to Flanoir."  
"Are you sure?"  
"It's a rumor, but it might be of reliable source." he admitted, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Knowing that a rumor was the best they had at the moment, they boarded the rheairds and, after checking their maps, flew towards the far east  
to a small continent, which was covered in ice.

* * *

**Cat:** Sorry for the really long wait.  
I had Writer's Block from Gnome's temple onwards and I'm still not entirely sure if the last part seems too rushed.  
This chapter was supposed to be longer, to be honest ..  
I'm going to change the formatting of this story, it keeps switching from close together to wide apart and it's confusing me  
when I'm writing the story itself.


End file.
